C’mon Hollywood #160

… let Star Wars go George!
by Sturdy

I have to preface this rant by clearly stating that I absolutely love STAR WARS. I feel that it is truly a great film. The merits of the films have been debated for almost 30 years now, but I love them. And despite what all the haters say, I also enjoyed the newest trilogy, bad dialogue and all. Basically, I want everyone that reads this to know that I’m a huge Star Wars fan. So it’s with the utmost respect that I have to ask George Lucas and everyone at Lucasfilm to let the Star Wars story go.

There was a time when I was dying to find out what happened within the Star Wars universe after Episode 6. In fact, I’m such a fan (see: nerd) that I’ve actually read over 20 Star Wars books since Timothy Zahn wrote “Heir to the Empire”. I had to give them up when they had Luke go to the dark side and the whole Jacen and Jaina storylines got silly. The point is that the post Episode 6 storyline is dried up and I don’t want to see another movie, TV show or animated feature focusing on this timeframe. I haven’t heard anything about a future trilogy or anything of the sort. Consider this a pre-emptive request on my part.

It’s just not right.

However, what we are already seeing is an animated CLONE WARS movie and a supposed TV show focused on the events between 3 and 4. When I first read the headline that they were making a CLONE WARS movie, I could barely muster enough enthusiasm to read the article. The CLONE WARS cartoons were decent enough, but I don’t know about a feature length film. Is there really a fan base for this anymore? The new trilogy has been desecrated by web sites and critics alike, so jumping back in and furthering the stories established in the new trilogy seems like a bad idea. I don’t think today’s kids (the target audience for all Star Wars films) are still interested in Star Wars.

Meh

As far as the TV show goes, I don’t see that working either. Granted, there is about a 20 year gap between Episode 3 and Episode 4, but I still have to ask if there’s anyone that still cares. I’ve also read that the show will focus on new characters, which makes the idea even worse. The only way I’d be interested is if they focused on a character I was familiar with and even then, I don’t think it would work. There are a few characters that might have interesting storylines, but I don’t want anyone else playing Han Solo or any of the other human characters, so that kind of narrows the choices. Overall, this show should never happen.

Let’s remember it the way it was…

Basically, I think George Lucas and everyone at Lucasfilm have milked Star Wars for everything it’s worth. I love all six films and I enjoyed reading the books, but the story is tapped out. It’s time for George to move on and start working on some of those pet projects he’s been talking about for the past 20 years. He’s made oodles of cash from Star Wars and every new project drains the Star Wars legacy just a little more. Please just let it go, and allow fans to enjoy the stories that have already been told.