msycamore said:
zee944 said:
Everybody is so pessimistic here!
My reason for beeing pessimistic is simply... what came first, the idea for a new line of Star Wars toys, or making Star Wars Episode VII the film?
I wonder if the opening box office results for John Carter played any role in fast-tracking the negotiations for Disney ;P
i keeed, i keeed...bwaahahahahahahahaa
Its kinda unfortunate JC bombed so bad; i have seen much worse movies make more money. I missed it in the theatres, but when I caught it on blu ray I thought it was awesome! True, there wasnt a great villain, the earth scenes seem uneccsary and the scene with JC and Dejha Thoris in that cave explaining how he can teleport to/from didnt make much sense. But man, my first thought after seeing it was "damn... how cool it would be if Mars was actually like that!". And i would have been thrilled if the PT was remotely close to anything like JC. Some of the best parts of AOTC came from JC.
anyway,
Disney bought all of LFL solely for Star Wars, they pretty much said so. And most of the discussion has centered around the franchise, not the story. But this has been the case since 1982, its just no longer the movie industry's worst kept secret that it was under LFL. I also dont think anyone should doubt that a new trilogy was used to sweeten the pot and raise the value. The question becomes will they still put forth an effort to make the best movie they can possibly make? If they just want to grab a piece of the 4-8 year old market as a simple cash cow, then they are all set.
Like evrything sw, I go through a range of feelings. I dunno, I keep ending up eventually feeling indifferent for an ST. I greatly anticipated the PT because it was going to explain how the most famous villian of all time came to be, show what were the jedi knights and just the idea of returning to a story that captured the imagination of an entire generation, after so many years.
I dont see anything that compels me to this sequel trilogy like a new batman and x-men movies or something from pixar or studio ghibli, let alone the OT and PT. First and foremost, I want the OOT available - on blu ray and every other future home video format. UNtil then, nothing has changed. I have not seen anything encouraging that this will happen. In fact, Im a little worried for guys like Harmy :( I sure hope Disney keeps a hands-off attitude, or at least understands why the De-Specialized editions are so popular and acknowledges that studio behavior has inflamed this situation.
But even with that issue set aside and judging the ST on its own merits, what story is there to tell? Dale Pollock said that he thought episodes 7-9 were the most exciting, but I thought all those stories were crammed into ROTJ? Lucas was adamant for years that there is no 7-9 (after being adamant for years that they did exist). I see reports that treaments are made. But like the PT, I dont buy for one second there was a story planned all along for this.
what about the characters? Bringing back luke, leia and the whole gang? Mark and Carrie's kids are older than they were during the OT! Ford is a very old man and i dont think has any desire to return to SW. this cant be like some made-for-tv reunion. IJATKOTCS tried bringing back Karen allen and i thought it was a disaster :( plus, these characters have to do something to make them compelling again.
The crew of the OT was hall-of-fame. Maybe the talent of the cast did not match, but i dont think you can underestimate just how extraordinarly charismatic the characters were across the board (as long as they stayed away from...ahem..the white stuff). Everyone talked about how matrix or LOTR was the new star wars, but i always felt it was the austin powers series that was the closest to having an ensemble of memorable characters. Like LucasDroid said, the glory years cant be recreated for almost the same reason that there will never be another Beatles. But if Disney genuinely wants SW to be a marquee franchise with teeth and staying power, it'll need a engrossing and moving story and an ensemble of great characters to drive it, not just a couple.
I disagree with this idea of having sw movies every 3 years for the forseeable future and making it like James Bond. IMO, from 1960-1969 I can count 4 Great James Bond movies. from 1970 -2011, I can count a total of...2 (although it appears the Livign Daylights has a loyal following). and I can count plenty of sucky ones :(
its funny though..one thing SW does have going for it is the world its set in. No matter whats happened, that galaxy far far away is one hell of a cool place. god im missing Ralph Mcquarrie now and JW is 80!! :'(
whenever I think of SW outside of the OT and its potential, i'll always think back to when I saw that trailer for SW Galaxies and how moved I was (i wish I could find it again).
anyway.
During the PT, LFL said all the right things (even if they were lying). Disney so far has not. Maybe an argument can be made that all the info has come from a shareholders meeting and it needs to be put in that context. But if they release the OOT with gold-standard remastering, I can see it as a good faith gesture and a step in the right direction.
