Star Wars Television Series Moving Forward 178
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."'"
Already Been Done (Score:2, Funny)
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That was priceless.
I'd include a link to the youtube video, so that those less informed could see it, like it, and maybe become fans of the show, but copyright holders have pulled it off youtube.
I guess I could tell you about it.
The Emperor, and his two business partners are sitting in his office, having a candid talk.
Tellephone rings, it's Vader...
Ahh, forget it... Just trust me, it's really funny.
Starwars: the series: The Holiday Special! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Starwars: the series: The Holiday Special! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Starwars: the series: The Holiday Special! (Score:4, Informative)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMPdDa90pLY [youtube.com]
-maybe Lucas can pass Kermit off as a mutated Ewok?
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Another Holiday Special, please! (Score:2)
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It's watchable if:
1. You've got a good group together
2. You're all drinking heavily.
Torrent! (Score:3, Informative)
Warning: Not for the faint-hearted. Users who disliked goatse, be warned.
Merchandise (Score:2)
Oh, and the sequels, and the repeat fees, and the spin offs
It's not all crap (Score:5, Interesting)
Tales of the Bounty Hunters [amazon.com]
ISBN-10: 0553568167
ISBN-13: 978-0553568165
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As for the rest of the Star Wars novels, couldn't
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As far as I know, Hamill is still working. Among his roles, he's been the voice of the Joker in the DC Animated Universe since "Batman - The Animated Series." He has been outstanding in that role.
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He is producing which also means that he is funding so there is no studio (other than his own) to place an order of 13 episodes to test the audience for future episodes.
Even if no one watches it, there will be 100 episodes in the can produced.
In the case of the Clone Wars, last I checked, 80ish episodes were finished. I imagine that 100 hours were storyboarded and the cuts for the episodes will come from that.
I suspect that the live
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Cue cynicism in 3 . . . 2 . . .(1) (Score:2)
After I, II, and III, I'm not at all excited by the prospects of Space Balls: The TV Show
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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.
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>to be given a rest on the big and small screens
I'm generally perplexed by comments like these. If people think something 'needs a rest' then don't watch it. Lots of people drop shows when they think they've gone on too long. If you think Star Wars is 'done' then don't watch.
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I'll put it this way about the prequels: If they had been mindless action flicks, I might not have have been disappointed. As another poster pointed out, the action scenes were generally good and entertaining.
As an epic, ho
Re:Cue cynicism in 3 . . . 2 . . .(1) (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
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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
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You obviously didn't read the article, because Lucas is thinking BIG, man!
Quoth the maker: "They [the suits] are having a hard time," Lucas said. "They're saying, 'This doesn't fit into our little square boxes,' and I say, 'Well, yeah, but it's Star Wars. And Star Wars doesn't fit into that box.'"
It's going to blow your mind. Think Jar-Jar Binks. Think midi-chlorians. Think greedy Chinese stereotype aliens! Think epic romances spanning multiple star systems! This is Star Wars we're talking about,
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There. Fixed that for you.
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> 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.
Robots (Score:5, Funny)
Considering the way Lucas directs actors, I would say that most of the Star Wars movies have been about the lives of robots.
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Mr T. and Tattoo were in Star Wars? Man, I picked the wrong week to stop huffing glue.
Great! (Score:4, Insightful)
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)
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Re:Expect lots of gratuitous cameos (Score:5, Funny)
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"Rah row row row rooh roww!
(Anakin, I am your father!)
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
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There's that at least. But if Young Indiana Jones is anything to go by, you can virtually guarantee that every episode will see the plot tangentially involve some recognizable character from the movies. An episode set on Tatooine is bound to see the main character "bump into" Shmi / Luke / Uncle Owen / Jabba or whoever. depending on the timeline.
Rinse and repeat for every damned episode until you get sick of it.
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I knew you were going to say that. I have ESPN.
"No Luke" FTW (Score:4, Interesting)
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Oblig Quote (Score:4, Funny)
Another Oblig Quote (Score:5, Funny)
Cry some more (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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For the record: Star Wars was the first movie that I ever saw in a theater back in '77. I've seen both the OT
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Not as good as the originals? If the prequels were 3/4ths as good as the originals there'd be far less negativity towards the franchise.
What is with Star Wars prequel fans not getting the complaints about the films even though they've been talked to death since 99? "Annakin accidently got into a ship, accidently took off, accidently joined the battle, and accidently destroyed the Tr
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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)
Inverse Ninja Effect? (Two Sith vs hundreds of Jedi.)
One and Two Dimensional Characters?
Insipid Romance?
Huge CGI sets which swallow the cast?
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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
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DING!! DING!! DING!!
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Is it really necessary that Boba Fett was the father to every clone out there AND tussled with Obi-Wan
First of all, Jango Fett is the father of all the clones. Boba is a clone of Jango. Second of all, Obi Wan is on the Jedi Counsel. There are millions of clones being ordered in their name mysteriously at a time when Jedi are concerned of a large plot brewing. It would make sense that he, or at least another counsel member, would go investigate. Jango Fett is already wanted by the Jedi for an attempt
Well I hope its good, but not holding my breath! (Score:2, Insightful)
Will this be a SitCom? (Score:2)
Battlestar Galactica (Score:5, Interesting)
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)
Firefly too; Man I wish that show hadn't been canceled.
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On a Side-Note Janeway got promoted to Admiral pretty Darn Quick considering the fact that She wasn't around for a couple Major Wars. I guess that what happens if you can create hi-technology that would take teams of engineers back home years to accomplish in one hour with a trained Secui
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There's a military coup at one point. On Earth. Sisko defies orders repeatedly, holds an Admiral at gunpoint (phaserpoint?), and the Defiant engages another starfleet ship in combat, damages it, and (IIRC) kills some of the crew in the process.
A secret and very much illegal organization is found to be operating with apparent approval of the super-high-ups in Starfleet, doing all kinds of mean and nasty things.
Pick a random episode from the series, and you've got better than even odds t
Re:Battlestar Galactica (Score:4, Interesting)
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I don't know if they need to be big and brassy; I think just someone other than Lucas would go a long way. The Clone Wars time period would have a lot of potential for a series, but it would need to be a real drama, not kid-friendly, merchandising machine crap that you know Lucas will do.
It would even be interesting to give different directors a few episodes each to do their
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Babylon 5 [wikipedia.org], more accurately, had proven that it's possible to create cinema-quality special effects and atmosphere on a TV show budget long before the current Battlestar Galactica.
Uh oh.... (Score:5, Funny)
Ten years ago, I would have assumed he was kidding.
Thanks, George! (Score:2)
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
What are you talking about? (Score:2)
Did he use some sort of ray to change your memories?
Are you stupid?
I have great memories of going to the thater to watch star wars many, many time. I had many fantastic conversation as a boy about star wars.
No matter what stink turd Lucas lays, he can't take those memories away.
And on a more specific note: He won't make you watch it.
George please, just stop. (Score:2)
And over.
Color me "who the fuck cares anymore" (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
the only star wars thing I'm waiting for is. . . (Score:2)
Re:the only star wars thing I'm waiting for is. . (Score:2)
Of course, there were some bad ones in that bunch too. Remember the old Jedi Knight? (aka Dark Forces 2) That was the first game I ever saw rendered on a 3d accelerated system (3dfx Voodoo, and it rocked at the time). Gameplay wasn't bad, but man the story was stupid. This guy, who looks like 30-ish, just finds a lightsaber, and through some video recordings of an old buddy he learns to be an extre
A word of advice to Lucas... (Score:2)
This is a good thing (Score:2)
Looks like he's chosen the cast already (Score:2)
CSI: Tattooine (Score:5, Funny)
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[Removes sunglasses]
"Drive by, Tattoine style"
"YEAAAHHHHHHH!!!"
I'll just wait and see. (Score:3, Insightful)
The Right Solution (Score:4, Interesting)
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The others can stay. Zahn, Stackpole, and Crispin have all shown that they are better at writing stories set in the SW universe than Lucas is, by far.
Re:The Right Solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, after the first three I suppose the whole property can't be any more degraded...
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Because Joss Whedon has such a great record extending venerable series [imdb.com]. Granted, he was a writer in that case.
done in 97 thanks to Troops (Score:3, Insightful)
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jar jar dies in first episode (Score:3, Informative)
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Actually, I heard it was going to be about Jar-Jar solving murders. In a little gray trench coat.
"Meesa just want to know one more ting..."
TV? (Score:2, Funny)
Robot Chicken (Score:2)
Get Seth Green to help ya out there, his star wars stuff is funny sh!t.
The Family Guy spoof was even better.
I have a bad feeling about this... (Score:2)
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Despite all the controversy about the prequels, as one who is working on his 65th Star Wars novel, I can't help but be excited about more Star Wars at any time :) Hopefully, they learned some good lessons from the prequels. Maybe...
How do you do it? Seriously? I wrote letters to imams asking them to declare fatwas against Kevin J. Anderson for what he did to Star Wars. I picked up "I, Jedi" a few years back because I enjoyed Michael Stackpole's work on FASA books. It wasn't awful, it just wasn't good. I remembered the original Thrawn series as being quite good but I read those in high school. I haven't gone back to reread them for fear of finding out I just had poor taste back then.
The problem with the Star Wars books is that they're
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Re:Look, I understand the nerd love of Star Wars.. (Score:2)
That stuff isn't milk anymore. It slowly degenerated into the following stages: butter, requesón, cheese, rotten cheese, fungus breeding ground, komodo dragon saliva, chemically unstable methane generator, mad-cow disease pryons, zombifying biological agent, and finally, George Lucas' brain cells' chemicals.