Star Wars TV Show 426
The lunatick writes "IESB and Theforce.net report a Star Wars TV show. Lucas will not direct it just produce it. Kevin Smith (Silent Bob, the clerks series) is named as a possible director."
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Star Wars TV Show
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"Being against torture ought to be sort of a multipartisan thing." -- Karl Lehenbauer, as amended by Jeff Daiell, a Libertarian
incorporate zahn's books (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:4, Funny)
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:4, Interesting)
Might be interesting to see the Old Republic from the perspective of a different Jedi (one of the others from the movies - not one of the main ones) where you can also have some of the main Jedi showing up from time to time.
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:3, Funny)
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:3, Funny)
They can figure out who really shot first!
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:3, Insightful)
Young Indiana Jones was fairly good TV - up to a point. What made it so ludicrous by the end of it all was how many 'famous people' were crammed into every episode and the consequent contrivances that had Indy leaping from war to war, continent to continent to fit them all in. If he wasn't meeting Charles De Gaulle it was Ho Chi Minh or Pancho Villa or someone else.
And that's the issue th
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:5, Funny)
I have a bad feeeling that Lucas is going to leave instructions in his will that nobody can make any more SW movies.
About the TV show: I imagine Kevin Smith sitting in a meeting going "I'll pay you a million dollars if you let me direct the show...no two million!"
-B
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:3, Insightful)
What REALLY GREAT scenes are there in the books? The Katana fleet battle doesn't compare to any space battle in the Star Wars movies.
The great ending of the books - Luke versus Clone Luuke? That wouldn't make a really good bit of cinema either.
Face it - none of the characters really grow in the Zahn books. Luke is pretty much the same at the start as he is at the end. T
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:2)
M
Re:incorporate zahn's books (Score:2, Informative)
Some Star Wars fanboy you were.
Lucas is not involved (Score:2, Funny)
Clerks Animated (Score:2, Insightful)
bad Idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:bad Idea (Score:2, Insightful)
Ah, yes... (Score:2)
Re:bad Idea (Score:4, Funny)
Re:bad Idea (Score:3, Funny)
Re:bad Idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Nonsense (Score:5, Insightful)
You're absolutely right! How could the man who gave us Howard the Duck ever do wrong?
Sarcasm aside, Episodes I and II are dumbed-down versions of Star Wars. They were more about the special effects than about the story. I find it ridiculously simplistic that Senator Palpatine could so easily engineer the takeover of the Empire; are there no other senior politicians who are in this with him? And the acting is wooden; even Ewan McGregor, one of my favorite actors, stumbles through these movies like he's not quite sure how to handle the material. Given how gifted McGregor is, I have to assume that it's Lucas's direction and writing that are the problem.
Thr first trilogy was made in the late 70's/early 80's, before the tech revolution. For most of us, it pushed the boundaries of science fiction. Two decades later, the tech concepts of the prequels are ho-hum. Lucas really needed to hand these off to someone who had a little more of a vision than he did.
Can you imagine if Lucas had contracted the Wachowski Brothers to write and direct the prequels? Even the least favored movie in the Matrix trilogy blows away the Star Wars prequels.
The best of the five Star Wars movies, SW:TESB, was not directed by Lucas. I think that that speaks volumes.
Re:Nonsense (Score:5, Interesting)
And he didn't write it either. THAT is the main reason I think it's the best. He had a hand in ROTJ which is probably why we got the Ewoks.
He has shown in the prequels that his writing ability is laughable at best.
Star Wars good writing? (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe it's just me, and maybe it's just because I've rewatched it recently. I wouldn't exactly call SW:ANH good or smart writing. It was a fun movie, with bad acting, Sir. Alec Guinness notwithstanding (actually, everyone but Han, Obi Wan and Tarkin were annoying this time around,) a pretty cheesy storyline, held together by three things (for me) : amazing special effects, an outstanding soundtrack and memories of when I saw it at th
Re:bad Idea (Score:3, Informative)
In case you don't know, TV series are never directed by a single director. They hire a director with a lot of style to do the pilot, and he sets the tone for the rest of the series. Following that, there might be some directors that direct a lot of episodes, and by a lot, I mean a c
Re:bad Idea (Score:5, Funny)
My opinion (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd think Star Trek would have demonstrated that already...
-nB
Re:My opinion (Score:3, Insightful)
it's already in ground. ep1 and ep2 make good kids flicks.. but had they been the first films in the series to be made would it be so huge? i doubt not.
Re:My opinion (Score:2)
Star Trek was good, the movies, TOS, TNG, but after that things got too drawn out. DS9 was fine when it was part of TNG plotline, but as those diverged both suffered. I won't go beyond those series because I think that's when things really went downhill.
My big concern with a Star Wars series is that it's going to be like Voyager was. Little purpose other than some T&A, along with
Re:My opinion (Score:5, Funny)
Re:My opinion (Score:3, Funny)
Re:My opinion (Score:2)
Yes. Go watch Episode II.
Re:My opinion (Score:3, Insightful)
When watching Ep. II, skip the "frolicking" scene entirely; the rest of the movie improves remarkably with that simple omission - yes, even the rest of the Anakin-Amidala scenes. What that one scene did to the pacing of the film should cost Lucas the most prestigious of the awards he's ever won, even just a high school debate trophy.
Star Wars Via Lens of Star Trek (Score:3, Insightful)
The weekly treadmill is precisely what television is.
For further insight, consider "Star Trek V". It was the only movie (based on the original characters) to lose money. However, when "Star Trek V" was broadcast on television, the movie seemed okay, compared to the junk food on the other channels.
The only conceivable way for Star
Re:My opinion (Score:3, Insightful)
No, the way you run a franchise into the ground is to release a theatrical series of "prequels," which systematically betray and murder the mythology you spent the better part of a decade building. It also helps to utilize an alien that talks like Buckwheat and a younger, whiny version of your most classic villain.
Re:My opinion (Score:2)
Um (Score:5, Funny)
Kevin Smith, eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Darth: "No Luke, I am your father!"
Luke: "You're my dad? Oh boy, and you know what the worst thing is?"
Darth: "What, my son?"
Luke: "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"
I'm waiting for Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm waiting for Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars.. (Score:5, Funny)
Or the classic: "Bocce, motherfucker, do you speak it?"
Re:I'm waiting for Quentin Tarantino's Star Wars.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Kevin Smith, eh? (Score:5, Funny)
"Ah! Governor Tarkin! I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I thought I recognised your foul stench when I came on board!"
"I've got a bad feeling about this!"
"Laser brain!"
"Lap it up Fuzzball!"
But then it was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, so maybe that was how people did talk back then.
The 'far away galaxy' thing was a good fudge, explains how they managed to develop all this technology to traverse a galaxy in a few hours but didn't figure out how to fire weapons that locked on target. (Hang on, they did, Jango Fett had one. But how come they couldn't do it years later... )
Re:Kevin Smith, eh? (Score:5, Interesting)
You should watch Ken Burns's documentary in the new DVD set. Carrie Fisher says that they used to tell Lucas that you can write lines like the "stench" one and people accept it on the page, but not when actors say it...
Re:Kevin Smith, eh? (Score:4, Funny)
It's an easy mistake to make.
Re:Kevin Smith, eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Jesus George. You can read this shit, but you can't say it!
Re:Kevin Smith, eh? (Score:3, Informative)
You can write this shit, George, but you sure can't say it.
Also fits the Han Solo character quite well ;)
Re:Kevin Smith, eh? (Score:3, Interesting)
OMG! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:OMG! (Score:3, Funny)
Uh oh (Score:2, Funny)
Hear that sound? (Score:2, Interesting)
That, folks, is someone milking it for all its worth.
Lucas has always done that, but gaaaaaah...New. Levels. Of. Yanking. That. Teet.
Oh well, I guess I just pity the poor cow...
Re:Hear that sound? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hear that sound? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh no, please don't tell me that William Shatner is going to be in it... [runs away screaming]
Is this real? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Is this real? (Score:3, Informative)
Why not!?! (Score:2, Insightful)
All things considered, this show could be pretty cool, but it likely won't be. The prequels have fallen short and I find it difficult to imagine fresh material coming out often enough for a TV show. A mini-series would be perhaps more appropriate.
I gotta say, everytime I see another part of Star Wars being sold out, a little part of me dies.
Re:Why not!?! (Score:2, Funny)
Cool. A few years of a television series and you'll be dead. One less 'George Lucas raped my childhood' Slashdot poster is fine with me
Bah. (Score:3, Insightful)
Hell, I'd rather see the afore mentioned Spaceballs sequel made into a TV series.
Re:Bah. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Bah. (Score:4, Interesting)
Can he pull it off? Absolutely. Whine about GL all you want; you can not deny the fact that he and the team he personally assembled single handedly changed movies and fimmaking forever. THX, Pixar, ILM - all creations of the flannelled one. If he surrounds himself with the right talent, and maintains a level of quality control, it could be quite successful, and we can avoid a redux of the Holiday Special.
Star Wars is ubiquitous to every single form of media except television. It only seems to be the next logical step after the prequels are finished. What Lucas needs to keep in mind is when to let it go. The idea is to stop when you see the shark you're about to jump.
Re:Bah. (Score:5, Interesting)
The writers should be telling several stories. Each episode would cover a segment of one story. They might do one or two episodes of one story in a row, then switch over to another story for the next episode.
Maybe they could follow an agent of the Imperial Scouting Service as they explore a new hyperspace route, or a couple of Corporate Sector Authority investigators checking out an industrial espionage situation. Maybe we could see the Black Sun organization, or do a couple of episodes on a Stormtrooper squad, like Troops.
With this format, the show wouldn't be tied to any particular era. They could mix up genres. It certainly wouldn't get boring. There would be unlimited room for growth.
As the series matures, maybe a couple of the storylines could touch each other. Perhaps the industrial espionage operation being investigated by the CSA is the same operation we see getting set up in the Black Sun story.
I tell you, this idea is brilliant! Brilliant, I say!
Now I just need to know who to send it to...
SG1.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:SG1.. (Score:3, Insightful)
The movie was so-so, so it was easier for the tv show to be better.
It would be hard to do a SW series on par or better than the movie- or at atleast the percieved quality of the movie.
Re:SG1.. (Score:2, Interesting)
While the TV show is better, it did have a lot more time to explore characters and themes than the original feature film. "Stargate" is definitely not a Great Movie, but it's visually innovative, has decent enough writing and no cringey eye-rolling moments (though I'd edit out a few of the scenes with Kurt Russell and the kids, just to keep it well on the safe side of the cheese threshold). I've watched it several times and it's still *f
The brand? (Score:2)
Re:SG1.. (Score:4, Insightful)
But the TV show was better because its creator had more control. Lucas needs less control, if anything.
Re:SG1.. (Score:3, Funny)
There can be only one Highlander film.
There can be only one
After all, there's only one Queen soundtrack.
Building the Death Star (from Clerks) (Score:5, Funny)
(taken from http://www.whysanity.net/monos/clerks5.html)
Building the Death Star
written by Kevin Smith
Randal: So they build another Death Star, right?
Dante: Yeah.
Randal: Now the first one they built was completed and fully operational before the Rebels destroyed it.
Dante: Luke blew it up. Give credit where it's due.
Randal:And the second one was still being built when they blew it up.
Dante: Compliments of Lando Calrissian.
Randal: Something just never sat right with me the second time they destroyed it. I could never put my finger on it-something just wasn't right.
Dante: And you figured it out?
Randal: Well, the thing is, the first Death Star was manned by the Imperial army-storm troopers, dignitaries- the only people onboard were Imperials.
Dante: Basically.
Randal: So when they blew it up, no prob. Evil is punished.
Dante: And the second time around...?
Randal: The second time around, it wasn't even finished yet. They were still under construction.
Dante: So?
Randal: A construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer. I'll bet there were independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers.
Dante: Not just Imperials, is what you're getting at.
Randal: Exactly. In order to get it built quickly and quietly they'd hire anybody who could do the job. Do you think the average storm trooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and white uniforms.
Dante: All right, so even if independent contractors are working on the Death Star, why are you uneasy with its destruction?
Randal: All those innocent contractors hired to do a job were killed- casualties of a war they had nothing to do with. (notices Dante's confusion) All right, look-you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia-this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.
(The Blue-Collar Man (Thomas Burke) joins them.)
Blue-Collar Man: Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but what were you talking about?
Randal: The ending of Return of the Jedi.
Dante: My friend is trying to convince me that any contractors working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when the space station was destroyed by the rebels.
Blue-Collar Man: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer... (digs into pocket and produces business card) Dunn and Reddy Home Improvements. And speaking as a roofer, I can say that a roofer's personal politics come heavily into play when choosing jobs.
Randal: Like when?
Blue-Collar Man: Three months ago I was offered a job up in the hills. A beautiful house with tons of property. It was a simple reshingling job, but I was told that if it was finished within a day, my price would be doubled. Then I realized whose house it was.
Dante: Whose house was it?
Blue-Collar Man: Dominick Bambino's.
Randal: "Babyface" Bambino? The gangster?
Blue-Collar Man: The same. The money was right, but the risk was too big. I knew who he was, and based on that, I passed the job on to a friend of mine.
Dante: Based on personal politics.
Blue-Collar Man: Right. And that week, the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. He wasn't even finished shingling.
Rand
Re: sig (OT) (Score:3, Informative)
We smoke when we shoot the bird. -- An anonymous mooninite.
For future reference, you may like to know that the little pink mooninite you quoted is called Irr and the larger green one is called Ignignokt.
Lucas (Score:5, Funny)
I guess that's the good part of the story
Troops (Score:3, Interesting)
A great Disturbance in the Force... (Score:5, Funny)
This could be good... (Score:5, Interesting)
Just show more Mos Eisleys, Death Stick Dealers, smugglers in crappy starships, malfunctioning droids, bounty hunters, weird aliens...
Re:This could be good... (Score:4, Insightful)
The prequel trilogy was doomed to fail because the story they tell isn't that interesting really, it's only interesting as a backdrop to episodes 4-6. All you really need to know about the story line of episodes 1-3 is summarised in about ten minutes in episodes 4-6.
The movies make a big point of having little bits of the background world intrude into the films to create an interesting universe - the rubbish collecting gnome creatures in episode 4, all the aliens living their lives in the background. But, just like episodes 1-2(+3 probably), if you concentrate too much on that background, you realise it's not as interesting as it appeared from a distance.
It's the same with Lord of the Rings. There's a huge backstory to the trilogy, but by starting the main story (Frodo and the Fellowship etc.) in the middle of that, you create a whole interesting world the reader wants to read about without having to bother with laboriously explaining it.
Re:This could be good... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd love to see some intelligent show that went along the same lines as that. I read those Han Solo books too, way back in the day, and I agree; you saw the "universe," people's lives, not just the world changing events.
In a Galaxy Far Far Away (Score:2)
The Special Editions were about as special as Bush's "Shock and Awe" and the prequils have been a huge disapointment. From the same person who gave use these back to back well-hyped-but-under-delivered duds, I don't want to waste more time with a TV show.
So what channel did you say it was coming on?
Works better 5000 years before ANH (Score:5, Interesting)
Who clicks the remote first? (Score:5, Funny)
Contempt (Score:2)
theforce.net? (Score:5, Informative)
I am both astonished and ashamed... (Score:2)
Luke and Silent Solo (Score:5, Funny)
[Silent Solo nods vigorously]
Battlestar Galactica! (Score:2)
In more important news: NEW Battlestar Galactica [scifi.com] is on SciFi January 2005!
Use it to replace 7,8, and 9... (Score:3, Interesting)
After all the celebrations at the end of the 6th movie are kind of silly, its not like the Empire evaporated with their Emperor. There would be many years of putting the whole back together.
Now, how to make a movie out of that I don't know. I do not think fans would stand for Luke, Leia, or even Han being transformed into bad guys.
Attempting to fill in gaps between the movies would not make a great story because everyone knows how it came out. The best comparison is Enterprise. Every Trekkie knows how the universe played out, hence a lot of them hate Enterprise for changing that!
We need good science fantasy/fiction on the TV. Who is to say that Star Wars cannot do that? At least give it a shot. Even Lucas is better than Beavis and Butthead over at Star Trek.
Re:Use it to replace 7,8, and 9... (Score:3, Funny)
The best comparison is Enterprise. Every Trekkie knows how the universe played out, hence a lot of them hate Enterprise for changing that!
Funny you should mention Berman. From TFA:
Berman: When asked if he had any other advice for George, "He can always hire me if Enterprise doesn't work out".
I think I speak for everyone with a geeky bone in his body when I say . . .
Nooooooooooooo!
Or, perhaps more thematically appropriately:
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!
Wait a Minute... (Score:4, Insightful)
What do you always get in a TV Sci-Fi series?
Cheesecake.
That's right, Cheesecake. The only compelling reason to watch sci-fi, and directors like to serve up big, heaping slices topped with insincere gravitas and skin tight costumes.
Jerri Ryan, that Vulcan from 'Enterprise', Erin Grey, Lt. Orora, Tasha Yar (I think that was her name), Debbie from Sealab, um... someone from Babylon 5, uh...
I actually don't watch that much TV, so I don't really know the whole list. I am certain there are some other people who can help fill in the details.
But you get the drift, and I, for one, cannot wait until the first time someone has to swing across a vast chasm.
Hoping to see Pam Anderson as a Grand Moff,
M
Re:Wait a Minute... (Score:3)
Here's an idea for a show. (Score:2)
This will suck. (Score:2)
And Greedo did not shoot first. He didn't even make disparaging remarks about Han's mother. He was just all green and tentacley and 'Jabba wants you as his new wife' and such so Han shot him. Fair call too.
It might work if... (Score:5, Funny)
If its any different than that, it will be pure crap, nobody will watch it and it will be filed away in the history of TV Land failures, right behind Cop Rock.
Don't let the TV execs get their hand in... (Score:5, Funny)
- CSI: Coruscant
- Law & Order: Imperial Sedition Unit
- Extreme Makeover: Padawan Edition
- The Darth Vader Factor
- Survivor: Dagobah
- Who Wants To Marry A Sith Lord?
- The Apprentice
Damn. Actually I think I'd enjoy some of those.No need to get upset (Score:5, Insightful)
That pretty much works for me when I don't want to see a TV show.
Jay Jay Binks and Silent Boba Fett? (Score:3, Funny)
Attack on the Death Star, K. Smith style: (Score:4, Funny)
ADMIRAL JAY AKBAR: All right, plan A. We wait 'till the Death Star's right about in orbit, then WHAM! Smack two fuckin' proton torpedoes right up its trench. We're all on 'em with the snub fighters, which Grand Moff LaFours won't be expectin' - their pitiful-ass defenses are designed for capital ships, baby! Then it's back to the Temple on Yavin for some hot Wookie sex and a fattie blunt. May the force be with us! Snootchie-bootchies!
Re:Ner..d? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Ner..d? (Score:5, Interesting)
A) After Return of the Jedi- in this case, following the X-wing series (liberation of Coruscant and all) and the Thrawn trilogy (yay!) by Zahn. The problem with this is that the actors are way too old to play Luke and Wedge and Han and Leia and Lando.
B) New Jedi Order. Some of the best books in all of Star Wars. The character shields are GONE- Chewbacca dies, along with a number of Expanded Universe characters throughout the year. The especially useful part is that it takes place 25 years after Return of the Jedi, meaning they could use Mark Hamill and he'd fit right in
Re:Ner..d? (Score:5, Interesting)
" The problem with this is that the actors are way too old to play Luke and Wedge and Han and Leia and Lando."
That is not necessarily a problem. Many movies have gone onto TV series using entirely different casts than the original. The most obvious one that springs to mind is M*A*S*H. Ask just about anyone today "who played Hawkeye in MASH" and I doubt a single person would answer you with "Donald Sutherland"
Granted, the bigscreen version M*A*S*H is not quite on par with Star Wars pop-culture-wise (although when it was first released it was highly successful and the main stars were very identifiable at the time). Also, M*A*S*H fans were probably never quite as obsessive as their Star Wars counterparts [nohomers.net].
Re:Ner..d? (Score:3, Funny)
Like, old Teek. Crippled. But he hobbles faster than beans through a Texan with the flu.
CINDEL SHOOTS FIRST!
Re:Big Deal (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Good choice (Score:2)
Re:Good choice (Score:2, Interesting)
B) I always thought Mallrats was Smith's low point. But that's just personal opinion.