So in the mist of going through what is now being called
the worst natural disaster in US history (what is with me? I went through
Katrina as well!) I received news that I last received something of the like
over ten years ago! 3 NEW Star Wars movies are going to be in the making! Along
with this news was a strange twist… Disney was buying Star Wars! At first it
was a tad bit shocking but after I thought about it made since. Three or four
years ago I came across a video on an event at Disney World called Dancing with
the Star Wars Stars. At the time it kind of made me scratch my head a little at
the fact Disney was hosting a Star Wars event… :-/ But I found the dance off
pretty funny! I always was amused at a little icon that read “Star Wars the
Musical – No, seriously. Tap Dancing Storm troopers.” Yes, very amusing yet on
the other hand bazaar, but such a funny picture it created in my head. Since then I have been hearing about
these “Star Wars Weekends” at Disney.
How do I feel
about this news? I don’t know… You see, when it was announced that the prequels
where coming out some younger than me might not realize that I grew up in a
world where there was only A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the
Jedi. This means you only know of this dark large monster like creature that
somehow has two kids he didn’t know about and you have no idea how any of it
happened! Yeah, if you were a Star Wars fan then you wanted to see those
prequels! I remember even coming up with stories in my head of how it happened.
I mean, like who was their mother? I came up with some story of a young woman
watching her husband going to the dark side and having to escape. She didn’t
even have a name! I don’t recall if I made one up. All you had was what was in
those 3 movies and at the time I got into Star Wars it was a bit of a forgotten
saga that I had little hope that after like 10+ years after the last film that
they would ever bother returning to it.
 |
| Revenge of the Sith Concept Art of Padme' and Anakin |
I really didn’t
know till recently that so many hated the prequels! I mean how can you hate it completely?
It filled in so much that you didn’t know that added to the first films. I will
agree that the casting/acting may not have been as perfect as the original but
the story was there. But to be honest I hated Harrison Ford as Hans Solo! Only
till I saw the actors that he got the part over did I first started thinking…
well, maybe he wasn’t THAT bad! ;-) Since then he has grown on me.
 |
| Art by Robert Shane |
As with the first
time around, I had heard that George Lucas did want to make 3 more but AGAIN it’s
been about 10 years since the last one (I’m seeing a pattern here!) and he was
downed so much for what he did with the prequel that I didn’t think they would
try again…
Now again… how do
I feel about this… well, the thing is it’s not like before because we don’t
have unanswered questions as to what happened. This movie by what I understand
will be after Return of the Jedi. So unless they decide to completely ignore all
the novels and get new actors to play old favorite I think that just after
Return of the Jedi is out of the question. Ignoring the novels and or recasting
would be HUGE mistakes.
I did come across
an interview online with the author of some of the most popular novels, Timothy
Zahn. READ HERE
Apparently Zahn knew something at the time about these new movies. This is
interesting because that means they were being careful at the time to not block
themselves in. This gives you a clue to where it could go. If they were smart
they continued to watch what was written.
There
are some real spoilers ahead that have already been spoiled for me but just warning
you in case you don't want to find out what happened yet.
Now what has happened in the novels? Well, this is what I have gathered by what I have read thus far... I know there is a lot out there that I haven't read but this is what I have right now... in Zahn’s novel
Leia and Han have twin children. A boy and a girl. Well, obviously this did not
affect or counteract what George Lucas had planned since we know he talked to
Zahn right before these events were written. You will also notice that Zahn
said it would be about Luke’s children… That’s interesting since Zahn was the
author that gave Leia children! Is Leia’s children unimportant to the movies or
did George Lucas have the twins in mind for the movie as well? And what of
Luke? What do the novels reveal of his future? Oddly enough a big event in Luke’s
life was also written by Zahn but this time George Lukas wasn’t as crazy about
the idea. George Lucas did not want Luke to marry Mara Jade… the fans won out
though. Sort of. Zahn has Luke marry Mara but I was quite surprised when I
found that she eventually dies! So far none of the 4 main original cast has died (Chewbaca has)
in the novels though they are really getting up there in age now. This is total
speculation but I wonder if they allowed Luke to marry Mara as long as they eventually
kill her off as she will not play well into the sequels. Zahn said the sequels
will be about Luke’s children. As of now in the novels Luke has one son that I
am aware of. Now if they killed off Mara, what of Leia’s son Anakin? I just recently
heard he also eventually dies! Made me sad because I like the kid, but anyway…
I’m wondering if the novelists are having to kill off people to lead the
stories into the right direction? We still have Ben, Luke and Mara’s son. Now
will Ben be one of the children in the new movies or will he get killed off before
2015 as well and we discover Luke has other kids… one that he doesn’t know about, or his kid/kids have kids?
Hmm… where was George Lucas going with this if in fact he is molding the novels
towards the final sequel and how much did they let authors stray through the years? We just don't know...
I’m feeling two
ways at the same time with this… it could be good which makes me excited… or
this could be AWFUL which makes me cringe! But one way or the other at least
Lukas isn’t giving up. He created an amazing world that has kept me entertained
for hours on end for YEARS!
The fact Disney is
getting involved gets me excited because my second love is Disney. I have not
cared for some of their movies in the past years but they were the makers of
The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King… and now they
will own Star Wars! Now that’s a little cool to say the least! Time will tell
the outcome…
 |
| Art by James Silvani |
No comments:
Post a Comment