How would a Star Wars reboot do?

As we all know, the new-age Star Wars fan would never get to see the Original Trilogy in unaltered form.

I'm pretty sure I'm significantly younger than all of you (I'm 17), so before any of you guys judge what I'm about to say, please keep in mind that I wasn't around in 1977, 1980, and 1983, and that the only versions of the OT I've ever seen are the 2004 DVD's (I've seen the prequel trilogy as well, and I watched all of them in Lucas's chronological order).

As I read more about Star Wars, originally I was all for Lucas making changes to keep in continuity. But one day, I came across the website for "The Secret History of Star Wars", and I read part of it (it's a book, and the guy posted the first 100 pages online). It changed my views completely. I now understand why all of the older fans dislike George Lucas and the Special Editions. I'm disgusted that the movies that Lucas is giving us aren't the movies that were shown in theaters back then. I want to know the special effects that were actually in the original films. There's a lot of other things that the website/book explained to me, I can't list them all, but one thing I remember is that basically the story Lucas told originally during the 70's and 80's is a different story he's telling now. He's simply using the content of his old movies and modifying it as part of his new story, the "Tragedy of Darth Vader". It just... doesn't make sense that he would do that. It's like taking an old painting and smearing poop on it, and calling it a new painting.

A recent Hollywood trend is reboots. Reboots gives the director freedom to do things his/her way. Obviously, all of the true Star Wars fans dislike Lucas's revisionism (don't worry, I dislike it too), and there's a lot of flaws in the Star Wars films. Why not reboot it and forget about the "Tragedy of Darth Vader" story that Lucas crafted?

The entire prequel trilogy in general are just flawed movies, and the acting in them is flat out terrible (although that's entirely the actor's fault, the script is terrible as well). I'm not going to list all the flaws of the prequel trilogy, because there are far too many, and I'm planning on never watching them ever again, ever. Now I know lots of you guys love the OT, but I'm going to list what I view as flaws with them (keep in mind I didn't get to view the originals like you guys did). And let me say, there are significantly less flaws in the OT than the PT, and that's because the OT was simply handled a lot better than the PT. But here are some of the flaws I see in both trilogies:

Spoiler:

 

*Basically the entire cast of the Prequel Trilogy are horrible actors. Either that, or the script was pretty bad, so it might not be the actor's fault

 

*Jar Jar Binks is stupid and shouldn't exist

*Waaaaaaaay too much CGI. I don't know why Lucas wants us to believe it's real, it looks so unbelievably fake. I remember watching Attack of the Clones for the first time and thinking, "does the director really expect us to think they look real?"

*Naboo's system of order makes no sense. QUEENS AREN'T ELECTED, GEORGE LUCAS!!!

*The PT lacks actual main characters. For instance, in the OT it's obviously Luke, Han, and Leia. But in the PT it's... Liam Neeson, and Obi-Wan? And Anakin? And Padme? And some older kid that's supposed to be Anakin? Jar Jar Binks? What?

*The PT lacks an actual villain. In the OT it's clear who it is (Vader), but in the PT it's...Maul? Dookoo? Emperor-dude? What?

*None of the characters in the PT have actual personalities, unlike the OT. Who the hell is Padme? Can Darth Maul talk?

*None of the CG characters look real. Lucas, are you serious? Do you really expect me to believe those Pixar-looking aliens are real? WTF?

 

Now, on to the OT:

*Mark Hamil is a terrible actor. 'nuff said. There's a reason why Harrison Ford got to act movies after Star Wars: he doesn't suck, unlike Hamil.

*As the films were being made, Lucas was already making changes to his vision. An obvious example of this is how Leia wasn't originally supposed to be Luke's brother

*Why are the hell are there cute little teddy bears in a Star Wars movie

*In my opinion, Return of the Jedi is just as bad as the prequel's. I did not enjoy watching it. It had the "third one sucks" syndrome that many trilogies have.

*I understand that this isn't a problem with the original films, but these days the movies are ruined with terrible 90's CGI, mixed with lame 2004 CGI, and lazily done CGI in 2011

Obviously we wouldn't want George Lucas to have any involvement whatsoever in the reboot, and there's no chance he's going to give up the rights, so we probably won't be seeing a reboot in a long time. But if one were to develop a full story for a reboot series, one that also keeps in spirit of Lucas's original vision during the 70's, how well would it do?

If a reboot were to happen, then none of the problems that Lucas caused would exist. Sure, lots of purist would be angry that it would happen, but at the same time, new Star Wars fans would have actual pieces of artwork to appreciate (assuming the reboot series is handled well), unlike what George Lucas is doing today. I would prefer that George Lucas has zero involvement in a reboot series, and that true Star Wars fans from the late 70's/early 80's are heavily involved in it (hopefully they're still alive by then).

1Shouta wrote: As we all know, the new-age Star Wars fan would never get to see the Original Trilogy in unaltered form.

Take a look around these forums, and this opinion may change.  And Lucasfilm did release in 2006 a version of the OT unaltered.  Round here it is referred to as GOUT (George's Original Unaltered Trilogy).

none said:

1Shouta wrote: As we all know, the new-age Star Wars fan would never get to see the Original Trilogy in unaltered form.

Take a look around these forums, and this opinion may change.

I meant legally, in 1080p, on Blu-Ray.

1Shouta wrote: I meant legally. In 1080p. On a Blu-Ray disc.

The work that is being done now, will become legal when the copyright expires.  We can vote people into government who can reduce the copyright extensions of the past, so the legal will be in our lifetime.

But to keep this on topic.  Doesn't sound like you want to do a reboot, you want a refined version.  When a project reboots they focus on the items being revised, not from where they once came.  It's fine to behind the scenes make a list of things you didn't like, but when they talk about 2012 Total Recall, they don't say going to Mars was a waste of time.  Instead they go, elevators thru the Earth's core are sooo cool.

There are ways I could perceive to refine the stories Lucas told.  But haven't given it much thought of an over arching story element which could make a SW reboot worthwhile.  But i'm one of the old foggies who's less interested in the story and more interested in how it was implemented.

The SW reboot I would like would be to go back in time and get the Turkish SW guy to complete his trilogy, back in the 80s.

I haven't much interest in seeing the OT rebooted. Most of the flaws are minor, and correcting them wouldn't serve to make a trilogy different enough to really interest me.

And Mark Hamill is not a terrible actor. His performance as the Joker in the DCAU is definitive proof against that claim.

His lack of on-screen roles after the OT was likely due to the car crash that busted up his pretty mug.

CORVETTE SUMMER forever!

There won't be a reboot for decades if at all, he's provided for that. Better to just let it go, Indiana. It's played out anyway, time for something new.

SilverWook said:

doubleKO said:

His lack of on-screen roles after the OT was likely due to the car crash that busted up his pretty mug.

Which happened between Star Wars and Empire. Harrison Ford has a scar, and that hasn't hurt his career. Luke Skywalker casts a larger shadow than Han Solo in the minds of casting people perhaps?

It is obvious when it happened, as Mark's face never looked quite the same after Star Wars. A scar on your chin isn't quite the same as major reconstructive surgery. Frankly, I don't think Mark would have ever gotten the role had his face looked like that to begin with. But I agree that Luke Skywalker casts a larger shadow as you said.

Is it a popular theory that Luke was attacked by the wampa early in Empire to help "explain" this difference in his appearance?

Given a full restoration of the original films made available for theatrical and home cinema viewing I would welcome a total remake/ reboot by Lucas or anyone else.

It would be an interesting curio at least.

It might even tell the story in a better paced way. So much of Star Wars was made on the fly and Lucas' eye for continuity is famously short sighted remaking the thing could recreate the story elements with more considered integration.

Rebooting Galactica style would give the film/television show maker the freedom to throw in some new surprises and shifts in tone.

But original films unaltered first or I explode!!! 

RRS-1980 said:

Shia who?

Why would he be so important to SW reboot?

Because he once played Indiana's son? And this makes him automatic choice for Solo?

Are there really so few actors in Hollywood? (Or UK? Or Canada?) All you can do is to repeat the media buzz? Don't you have own ideas, visions?

Whoosh...

Rebooting/remaking the films is an utterly terrible idea.

The prequels and special editions already rebooted the story, anyway, and it no longer has anything to do with what it used to be about.  If you want to change it away from what it is now, going back to the original versions and disregarding the revisionism is enough of a 'reboot' on its own, because it lets you view it in a completely different context than the one Lucas has tried to shoehorn the films into.  No prophecies, no midichlorians, no celibate Jedi, no 'Tragedy of Darth Vader'; none of that nonsense.

This way, Star Wars is 'The Adventures of Luke Skywalker', as it was meant to be from the beginning.  And that's all anyone who understands good storytelling really needs.

If the original versions are restored and made available what would be terrible about remaking or rebooting the series?

Arguably the continued tinkering with the existing films while the originals are repressed is a worse situation.

I never have a problem with bad remakes, I just blank them out.

I don't need the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy for example because the Radio version, the Novel version, The Audio Book Version, The Television Version, The Stage Version, The Text Based Adventure Game Version, The Musical Version, The Towel Version are all good enough.

RRS-1980 said:

Jonno said:

Whoosh...

Please do elaborate.

Georgec's comment was clearly ironic and made for humorous effect - you might have taken it a tad too seriously.

Anyway, this is very strange thread considering the OP's thesis is "I haven't seen the original version - should it be remade?" More watching, less posting would seem the best approach...

What's terrible about the idea of rebooting is that any such thing is absolutely guaranteed to be horrible.

The original films are so iconic and excellent that any attempt to 'improve' or 'reimagine' them could only ever suck copious amounts of hairy ass through a straw.  There's just no way around this.

That it's surefire rubbish almost promises that some schmo will actually try to do it at some point in the future, if there's nothing preventing them from doing so, particularly since Hollywood these days seems entirely devoid of new ideas aside from a couple of writers and directors.  This is one way in which I'm actually grateful for Lucas' stranglehold on SW, because at least nobody else can come along and find entirely new ways in which to screw it up.