IGN ponders the possibility of George Lucas making a third Star Wars trilogy:
"So let's say that Lucas decided to finally make these three films. How cool would it be to see Luke not only finally back in action, but also in true Jedi form, albeit as an aged, Ben Kenobi type? Certainly Mark Hamill would be up for the role, and since Lucas controls his own destiny, so to speak, when making his films, he wouldn't be required by any studio to jettison Hamill for a more box-office ready star. Of course, if Lucas could draw Harrison Ford back -- and judging by the state of Ford's career lately, he just might be able to -- that problem would be solved anyway (as long as Ford lost the grump factor for a spell). Carrie Fisher, though… well, she just doesn't fit the Princess Leia role anymore, does she? More Penny Marshall now than Leia, she's become sort of twisted if not evil."
While the Leia being Penny Marshall thing threw me, the article brings up some interesting points.
Would you be up for another go at the franchise?
I definitely think YES. My solution to this whole "Star Wars" thing, by which I mean the prequel debacle, is MORE Star Wars. I want critical mass to be passed, so we can say "THIS is a good Star Wars movie, THAT is a bad Star Wars movie." Once we're free of the limited canon, people can start picking & choosing.
ReplyDelete& heck, isn't Star Wars really about magic powers & people using laser swords, also bounty hunters & smugglers & dystopias? YES.
If I was a betting woman, I'd guess that Lucas will do another trilogy. I mean, it's an instant fortune.
ReplyDeleteAnd probably use Hamill, Harrison, etc. Because that's SUCH a big fan-stroke. People would go nuts.
Ick! I think it would be horrible!! George Lucas proved he is incapable of making anything other than a CGI disaster with the last set of three and Mark Hamil ... I can't imagine many people want to see old potbellied has-been jedis - unless it's meant to be comedy.
ReplyDeleteOnly if Lucas was producing and agreed to hire someone else to direct and write the script. If I have to watch Lucas direct one more tortuous attempt at a love scene, I may gouge my eyes out.
ReplyDeleteOnly if someone besides Lucas writes the scripts and someone besides Lucas directs.
ReplyDeleteI spent the '90s being skeptical of the prequels and then found I actually liked them. The reason most people don't is that they've over-mythologized and fetishized Star Wars. It's become too personal and sacred for a lot of fans to accept any jiggering with it, even from the official source.
ReplyDeleteIf the prequels taught us anything, it's not that Lucas "has lost it" or "can't make new Star Wars movies," but that it's impossible to make a Star Wars movie to satisfy the bulk of the fandom. Because Star Wars is such a large part of many people's entertainment lives, new films will always disappoint and disillusion a signnificant (if not large) chunk of the audience.
In some ways, the prequels beg the question of the sequels; but in others, they seem to have cut off that train of thought.
The prequels take everyone's favorite character from the original trilogy and retroactively make the entire series about him — but he's dead at the end of Return of the Jedi, which raises the question of how he'd be a defining presence in three post-Jedi films.
They also take the original films' simplistic narrative and look backward to the more complex circumstances that created the simple, black-and-white world depicted in the original films. That's a damned clever way to engage middle-aged adults in something they loved as kids, no matter how much flak the prequels get for being "bad" or "poorly conceived." How would that examination continue in a third series of films? My natural inclination would be to suggest a sort of adolescence, but I have a hard time conceiving of what that might entail or how it might play out on screen. Then again, if Lucas could pull off just that one feat, a third series is worth pursuing.
A trilogy of trilogies has great symmetrical appeal for me, but Lucas established so much parallelism between the first series and the second that it's hard to imagine a third entering the equation without breaking the current structure entirely — or, worse yet, just repeating it a third time, at which point though-provoking parallels become tiresome motifs that you spend the entire movie waiting for.
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Huh. I guess my vote is a solid "it depends." On the one hand, the world doesn't need any more Star Wars than it already has, and Lucas would certainly be doing SW fans a favor by sparing them another trilogy. (At least they can hold onto their personal visions of what eventually became of the characters.) But on other hand, Lucas proved himself capable of handling some hefty conceptual problems with the prequels, and that makes me curious about sequels.
It's a great universe, no doubt about that, but honestly the movies have always bored the crap out of me. So no, I don't think another trilogy of awful movies would be a good idea, even if it is set in a great mythology.
ReplyDeleteJust to wipe the ho-hum taste of the prequels out of our mouths? Yeah sure why not?
ReplyDeleteThat said, I second the idea of Lucas only producing and finding better talent to write and direct. I'd love to see Trek and Wars go head to head on more equal ground.
I don't see the similarity between Carrie Fisher and Penny Marshall, but now I really want to see Penny Marshall as Princess Leia.
ReplyDeletePeople change. Carrie Fisher could totally kick ass as the ascerbic senior Senator from Alderaan. She may have lost the dewy glow of princess Leia but anyone who has seeen Wishful Drinking knows she is still a riveting presence.
ReplyDeleteJust keep Lucas as far away from the production as possible. The prequels absolutely reek.
Oh, no no No No No NO NO NO NO!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe idea excites and terrifies me.
ReplyDeleteDear lord, no.
ReplyDeleteNo.
I wonder how well today's Carrie Fisher would respond to George Lucas asking her to lose a few pounds to play Leia as he did back in the 1970s. Over and under on how many times she would pimp slap him?
ReplyDeleteAs Anakin Skywalker wisely said at the end of Episode III...
ReplyDeleteNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
As much as my inner 8 year-old might love another big screen trip to that galaxy far, far away I'm going to have to say no. Between the expanded universe comics and novelizations, the Clone Wars animated show and the upcoming live action series I'd say I'm pretty good for Star Wars right now. A final trilogy might be nice and bring things full circle, but sometimes it's best to let things go. Star Wars fandom has become so polarized due to the prequel backlash (they suck! No they don't! Well you suck! No you suck!!) that maybe it's best for all concerned if the saga cools off for a few more decades. So I'm saying no with a yes-ish aftertaste, basically. ;p
ReplyDeleteIf Lucas does indeed decide on making Episodes 7 through 9, he is going to need to swallow his pride and allow someone to come on board as story editor, rein checker, someone to cut back on his own self-destructive impulses (NO MORE JAR-JARs! Let someone else write the love scenes! Let the actors emote at least once during critical dramatic scenes!). Kevin Smith I'm sure would jump at the chance...
ReplyDeleteThe next biggest problem is that any new movie trilogy comes out, will it conflict with the existing canonical-so-far Expanded Universe made up of the novelizations and comics? The plotline there has become so convoluted, with so many new characters that haven't been established on-screen, that integrating that into a 'new' trilogy won't work. Should they abandon the Expanded Universe? If they do, should they consider any of the characters/plots from the EU be used as a basis for the movies? After all, Mara Jade had proved to be a popular character in her own right.
As for bringing Carrie Fisher back. You'd have to. Would she need to lose weight? Prolly. Hell, Ford's gained a pot belly of sorts so he needs to go on a diet as well. Hamill's gonna have to go back to sword training for the basic dueling scenes (although Lucas can and will CGI stunt doubles for the complex fights). You get frumpy as you age, and the gen'Xers who make the backbone of the franchise fandom should recognize that, and should add to the appeal of the final trilogy (if we follow the Campbellian rules of hero myths, should play out as a Ragnorok (sp) or Twilight of the Force finale).
I don't think Lucas would ever do it. I think it's more likely that he'll remake the original trilogy (you KNOW he's dying to)
ReplyDeleteNo. By no means.
ReplyDeleteLucas had his chance and he failed miserably. Miserably.
Star Wars is dead. It's become a self-parodical joke, a wrung-out cash cow with no heart and no soul.
Did you SEE the 'prequel' trilogy? You MUST have. How can you still use words like "how cool would it be" when referring to FURTHER back-alley rape of our collective childhood?
The first movie alone is a boring, mindless, unbelievably complicated and ultimately pointless movie. That's just the first, the one that sets the stage.
I don't call them all garbage because I am a slavering star wars fanboy, no.
No.
I am a lover of movies and i am a lover of stories.
Star Wars produces soulless abominations now and nothing but.
It would not be cool.
It would be sad.
Let your inner fanboy move on, Jedi are dead, Star Wars is over, Lucas is a godawful hack.
Look:
In order for Lucas to make good movies, he needs people around him who will challenge his decisions and Lucas has long since fired everyone who challenges his decisions.
He surrounds himself with supplicants and ass-kissers, which means he will NEVER be challenged on anything. Anything.
Midichlorians. Canonically, 'the force' is a sexually-transmitted disease.
Canonically, you can get 'the force' from a blood trasnfusion CANONICALLY.
This is what happens when nobody challenges the fat man. And the fat man will not hire anyone new to challenge him.
These movies will never be made and thank god, they would be three more overpriced, overblown, over-effected puiles of rot and ruin and rape of your childhoods, minds and cinematic innocence.
Star Wars is dead.
Find something new to fanboy over.
Could we call an end to the "rape" analogies for anything fanboy related? Seriously.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they could recast the Star Wars characters a la Star Trek...I call Ryan Reynolds as Han Solo!
(I'm kidding)
I'd say hell yeah to a sequal trilogy with the original cast as aged, wiser versions of themselves.
ReplyDeleteAnd it would have a nice wrapping for the first two trilogies.
Prequels - Anakin's rise and fall.
Original - The road to Anakin's redempton
Sequels -Anakin's legacy
Bring on Thrawn!
ReplyDeleteNo, no. A million times no. Isn't the most recent lousy trilogy enough? Do we want another 9 years of betrayed fans screaming about how George Lucas has lost what little storytelling ability and integrity he once had?
ReplyDeleteIt's like people can't leave well enough alone. "THIS trilogy will get everything right and prove once and for all Star Wars is the pinnacle of Western civilization!"
No, it won't. Let it go. DaVinci didn't have to paint another Mona Lisa every 10 or 20 years, each one suffering from diminishing returns as he crapped it up more and more with soulless marketing and over-reliance of technology in place of inspiration... or basic painting skills. One was enough. If he had painted a second, botched one of a younger Mona Lisa it would have only detracted from the original.
Much like the lousy prequel trilogy besmirched the original trilogy. Yuck. Yuck yuck and more yuck.
Please. No more Star Wars. EVER.
Basically, everyone telling him he should do it but hire other directors and screenwriters are also telling him NOT to do it, they just don't realize it.
ReplyDeleteHow about Lucas just produce some other type of movie epic, something where he steals bits and pieces from different actual geniuses this time and maybe he'll get lucky the way he did in 1977?
Why doesn't he just make that Red Tails movie about the Tuskegee Airmen he's been promising for about 30 years?
Over-reliance ON technology. Oops. Oh well, I still vote no. In fact, I wish they could redact the entire prequel trilogy.
ReplyDeleteSince when did "the Princess Leia role" become all about 20-something ingenue sex appeal, anyway? Oh, right — she was reduced to a metal bikini fetish long ago.
ReplyDeleteDo IGN (or anyone else) really imagine these hypothetical movies would feature a roguish, directionless 60-year-old Han Solo or a naive 50-year-old Luke Skywalker still finding his way in the world? I'd hope these characters would have grown and changed if there were going to be another film about them. (And that's the biggest challenge for any Star Wars movie, since so many fans are firmly vested in preserving their personal childhood mythologies.)
Maybe it would help if we shifted the language and started thinking about the character as Queen Leia (thematically, if not literally). Otherwise, what would these hypothetical movies shoot for — Princess Leia as some sort of über-cougar?
Only if it's Thrawn.
ReplyDeleteWould you be up for another go at the franchise?
ReplyDeleteYou mean if Lucas were to write and direct again?
HAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA!
::koff::
Sorry.
No.
I wouldn't have a problem with it. Would be a big cash cow. But Lucas keeps saying it'll never happen.
ReplyDeleteCourse, he doesn't really NEED to anyway. Not like he's hurting for cash or anything.
Oh, and as much as I love the Saga, isn't it time someone did the next Star Wars? The next big, epic heroic tale? I wait in anticipation for someone to pick up the gauntlet Lucas threw down in '77 and run with it.
ReplyDeleteIt's so fashionable to bash the prequels, but the original trilogy isn't exactly Shakespeare either. I grappled with my hate for a long time before finally coming to terms with it. I wrote a posting on my issues and ultimate acceptance of Episode I, which you can find here:
http://thecanadiandefender.blogspot.com/2009/05/every-saga-has-beginning.html
The only problem with Carrie Fisher as Leia is that it's difficult to get her bonded and/or insured in a starring role - despite the fact that she has spent the last couple of decades recovering and openly poking fun at her drug history.
ReplyDeleteI am actually appalled that IGN would call her "more twisted". She has proven she still has presence, and still, while not the "sexy" princess, she is certainly the smart, agressive, sarcastic and beautiful heroine she has always been.
Rant over.
Seriously - check out Sigourney Weaver in Avatar.
I don't know if I could tolerate a new trilogy. But the kids seem to like the newer stuff, and I'd hate for them to be deprived of lightsabers and droids and bounty hunters and hutts and all that.
ReplyDeleteA number of people already said as much, but I'd like to add my voice and state seeing those characters played by the original actors playing their age could be phenomenal. The sequels should include their kids as well, so "youth" factor is covered. There is a ton of potential.
ReplyDeleteHorrible idea. Lucas NEVER had any real "creative genius", and now that he has enough clout to throw around, nobody is there to stop him.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Lucas will be lazy enough to just produce it...so that a real writer & a real director can make them good.
ReplyDeleteLucas promised 9 episodes. He should do it.
ReplyDeleteI hopped on this train shortly after the Leia-Ewok scene in Return of the Jedi. It's about the only thing I've done right in the last twenty-odd years.
ReplyDeleteI trooped dutifully to the theatres to see all three of the godawful prequels, and Revenge of the Sith -- a mediocre fourth place behind Return of the Jedi -- turned out to be the best they had to offer. Episode One was a movie literally without a plot or a protagonist.
ReplyDeleteI have not since spent money on any Star Wars product of any kind, and I never will, not ever again. I suspect I'm not alone in this. I certainly hope I am. Part of the reason that we're so awash in bad cinema right now is that the buying public so invariably gets sucked into watching it, and then making excuses for it. Enough is enough.