Emre1601

A Disturbance in the Force, a new documentary on the making of the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, airs soon:

https://comicbook.com/starwars/news/star-wars-holiday-special-documentary-disturbance-in-the-force-premiere-sxsw/
 

"A documentary diving into how the infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special came to life has been in the works for years, with the first details of this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival selections confirming that A Disturbance in the Force is set to make its world premiere at the event. At this rate, it’s currently unknown if the documentary will make its premiere at SXSW and then be made available widely or if it will play the festival circuit in the coming months, though with announcements about the project dating back years, knowing that the film is getting any public release is exciting news for Star Wars fans. The South by Southwest Film Festival will kick off on March 10th.

The film is described, “In 1977, Star Wars became a cultural phenomenon that single-handedly revitalized a stagnant film industry, and forever changed how films were sold, made, and marketed. Movies would never be the same again. A year later, neither would television. In 1978, CBS aired the two-hour Star Wars Holiday Special during the week of Thanksgiving and was watched by 13 million people. It never re-aired. While some fans of the franchise are aware of this dark secret, this bizarre two hours of television still remains relatively unknown among the general public. Simply put, we will answer how and why did the Holiday Special get made.”

Talent featured in the documentary includes Seth Green, Weird Al Yankovic, Taran Killam, Gilbert Gottfried, Bonnie Burton, Paul Scheer, Bruce Vilanch, Lenny Ripps, Donny Osmond, and Miki Herman. A Disturbance in the Force was directed by Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak, who also serve as producers, as do Adam F. Goldberg and Kyle Newman.

The Star Wars Holiday Special is one of the most infamous relics from the galaxy far, far away, largely due to how obscure the project was for years, as it was only available through bootleg VHS tapes. Thanks to the Internet, the Special has been discovered by countless fans, with official Star Wars creatives even incorporating elements from the Special into official Star Wars canon. Still, Lucasfilm has been quite adamant that it will never release the Special in any official capacity on any platform."
 

This new documentary must surely be more fun to watch than the Holiday Special itself?! I am kind of intrigued by this doc. Not enough to actually watch the Holiday Special again, but it could be amusing and may turn up something new on it.

I’ve only watched the part of the video linked to in the opening post, and this is an interesting subject to me in that it also highlights what George failed to do or show onscreen in the Prequel films. And the continuing attempts since to fix, repair, or explain the shortcomings or problems with the Prequels in the ancillary series and material since. Whether that is 2003 Clone Wars (to an extent), the 2008 film, The Clone Wars series, Rebels, or Tales Of The Jedi and so on. Or official articles and interviews, and the slew of fan-made “George is a secret genius” or “Prequel deeper meaning” material such as Ring Theory or visual symmetry, or overlong and videos pieces on fans simply “failing to understand the Prequel films”. None of which changes anything onscreen in the Prequels themselves.

For example, I really enjoyed the Dooku segments of 2022’s Tales Of The Jedi. But I could not help but question just why we were not shown such material in the Prequels themselves, which would have made his character and story arc far more compelling. 20 years on from AOTC and we finally got some enticing onscreen content about Dooku and his motivations, instead of what we saw in AOTC & ROTS; a 2D disappointing mustache twirling throwaway villain.

We really could do with a Special Edition of the Prequels, such a thing would be fascinating to see, along with the reactions and thoughts of many Prequel fans.

Though I still don’t understand why Obi-Wan and Anakin’s friendship, them becoming a team, and then closer like “brothers”, wasn’t shown in the Prequel films themselves; that it needed “a footnote” such as TCW to explain or show this.

According to George, the Anakin character was “very one-sided” in ROTS, perhaps this was why George felt the need to show that more charming heroic side of Anakin, “his settling down and maturing a little bit which is what happens when you become a parent or teacher”. But this takes place shortly before his fall to the dark side, betraying the Jedi, killing the children again (and the men and the women too!), choking his pregnant wife, and fighting Obi-Wan. Then finding out it was all for nothing, that he was lied to and misled by Palpatine, but still continuing on to become Space Hitler. To me it is all quite uneven, and jarring.
 

If George Lucas worked on and had significant input on TCW along with Dave Filoni, then George should likely deserve more credit for “saving Anakin Skywalker”, with any others who worked on that side of creativity for the film or series. Is the video posted by SWOTFAN25 about 2008’s The Clone Wars film, or the series? But anyway, we should also remember and acknowledge why Anakin needed “saving” in the first place, going on what was shown or portrayed in the Prequels. Or not shown, in this case.

I’m not a big fan of the music outside the OT, and had mistakenly assumed they already had released them for the other films. It seems weird that haven’t yet, with the resurgence in popularity of the Prequels for AOTC and ROTS in recent years. And with vinyl being profitable and popular again too.

How is the music in the Sequels generally received among the fans? I imagine it is popular with it being by John Williams.

I would have thought “Trilogy sets” or even “Saga sets” would have sold well. And been profitable as digital downloads, CDs, or vinyl for collectors.

Maybe the 50th Anniversary will see them all released?

+2 for the cinema.

Did they show Empire at the cinemas for the 40th anniversary in the end with Covid going on?
 

It would be fantastic to see this on the big screen again:

but I would reluctantly settle for watching one of the later “Special Edition” versions at the cinema if that was our only choice.

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I was lucky enough to have the “Dr Gonzo” version of the OOT on DVD in the early 2000s. I think it was “Dr Gonzo”, or something similar, a couple of years before the substandard GOUT DVDs was released.

And also the unofficial “Look” 1997 Special Edition on DVD, but I think I only watched them once or twice. It wasn’t good, but it was Star Wars on DVD which was a big thing at the time.
 

http://www.prillaman.net/starwarsdvdreviews.html, http://www.swonvideo.com and the https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/An-Index-Of-Projects-Help-Thread-for-Star-Wars-Preservations/id/57297 covers some of the unofficial DVD options before the official GOUT was released in 2006.
 

Before I got the “Dr Gonzo” version on DVD I think it was recordings of the films being shown on TV on VHS.

CarboniteSolo said:

They should add the unaltered original trilogy to their streaming platform and promote it to Star Wars fans that you can only watch it exclusively on Disney+

I mean if they wanted more people to join, that would be a way to do it.

Absolutely, it is not because they cannot do it or it would be a problem on a technical or budget level.

Disney+ even added the extended cut version of “The Muppet Christmas Carol” an an option to watch, along with the regular version of the film, in December.

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2022/12/09/how-to-watch-the-muppet-christmas-carol-extended-cut-on-disney-restoring-when-love-is-gone/

rocknroll41 said:

New “scoops” coming from a credible source (but take this all with a grain of salt, of course):

It seems that the plan is to still release three new Star Wars films in 2025, 2026 and 2027. These will all apparently be announced at Celebration in April. The first will be Lindelof’s film, which will start shooting in the summer. The new lead will be a POC man. Doesn’t look like Daisy is coming back for this one.

FWIW, Lucasfilm currently has flags planted for December 2025 and December 2027, but not December 2026 (that spot is still reserved for Avatar 4). So if we really are getting a movie in 2026, I guess it’ll be around Thanksgiving time? Can’t really see them going back to a summer release after what happened with Solo.

Rogue Squadron could be one of the slots?

Maybe Taika Waititi’s film as well, or is that a bit early?

New Star Wars TV Show Rumored to Be Moving Forward With Fan-Favorite Producers - from ComicBook

Ghost Track 17

'There’s a rumor that the Star Wars TV Universe is about to get a little bit bigger. Word is that a new Star Wars TV project is moving forward into production, and that will be spearheaded by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the core creative team behind Star Wars: The Mandalorian. Production Weekly has a listing for an “untitled Star Wars project,” which is not a new thing, exactly, as the uncertainty of the Star Wars franchise in the last few years has seen numerous movie and TV projects going into production, with little-to-no information about them. However, this latest one is different, as it has a working title and a list of producers attached.

This new Star Wars TV project is going under the working title of Ghost Track 17, which (as always) is probably a fun inside joke with the crew, that the public doesn’t fully comprehend. Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are listed as producers.

While this rumor is now circulating on Star Wars sites it’s been noted that Internet scooper Daniel RPK recently dropped a Patreon scoop that Filoni and Favreau were working on a Star Wars series going by “Ghost Track 17” – with the added note that it would be a series set in the “MandoVerse” corner of Star Wars.’

Superweapon VII said:

I would’ve liked the Ewoks if they’d looked less like teddy bears and more like miniature versions of this:

Though the performances still would’ve suffered having to rely on little person actors. I don’t mean to offend, but they don’t make for the best agile arboreal creatures.

I do wonder why Lucas did not change the Ewoks for his Special Editions, other than the blinking. Add some teeth or make them a little more scary or fierce, even if just when in battle.

Maybe even shooting some new fiercer Ewok vs Imperials scenes in a forest for it, and adding some CGI later on.

Marooned Biker Scout said:

Emre1601 said:

Patty Jenkins says Rogue Squadron is still in “active development”.

She has responded to some rumours about Rogue Squadron and Wonder Woman 3 on her twitter account.

I hope it does get made, and that it is as good we many of us interested in the RS film hope it to be.

The same for me. An X Wing film is something of a no-brainer for Lucasfilm, One that should appeal to much of the fandom. I just hope they take their time and get it right.

They could re-badge Tpp Gun: Maverick as a Star Wars film, as it was basically a good Star Wars film anyway! 😃

That is great news! I hope they do the film justice with a high quality book, and maybe some extras and goodies too.

A new release for the film would be cool too.

Some cinemas in the US are doing 40th anniversary screenings: https://revuecinema.ca/films/conan-the-barbarian-40th-anniversary-screening

digitalfreaknyc said:

For anyone who loved this series as much as I did, it’s on sale on iTunes right now for $5.99 (down from $12.99).

There is a ‘Icons Unearthed: Star Wars’ companion book coming out in May:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/icons-unearthed-peter-holmstrom/1141939366

There are not many details and seems expensive $28 US. But I hope there is more stories and information from the cast and crew that featured in the series. And maybe even some updates too.

The Seasons Greetings to everyone!

G&G-Fan said:

Emre1601 said:

I can’t speak for Mocata, Screams In The Void or others. For me it was nonsense because it was so poorly executed and poorly shown in ROTS, and I believe there were other better ways to have Anakin fall to the dark side. You think so too in creating this thread and your opening post: “Anakin’s turn to the dark side wasn’t structured the best in the Prequels.”

We’re talking about ideas here, not the execution. They (and you) were saying that the idea of Anakin wanting to turn to the dark side to cheat death is a fundamentally bad idea. That was my argument that it’s not.

I do not care too much for what Lucas said later, because if he needs to explain things afterwards he likely did not do a good job explaining them on screen at the time. Lucas is also not a reliable person to listen to so I do not take his words seriously as some others do, even as the creative genius behind all of this. I do like to listen to creatives talk about their work and intentions, what worked and what didn’t, but in the end what matters is what happens on screen.

As others say “show, don’t tell”.

And again, I was just discussing the idea of Anakin turning to the dark side 'cause he wants the power to cheat death, and not how it was executed on screen.

Also Lucas is only “unreliable” when he’s lying about things as they were depicted in the special editions or prequels always being the intent even when he was making the original trilogy even when there’s evidence against it. This quote is from The Making of Revenge of the Sith in which he has no reason to lie because it was literally from when the film was released.

Everybody has lied in their life, you can’t just dismiss everything everyone says as a lie because they’ve lied before. You have to look at the reason why they did it and see if it applies.

Of course everyone lies. But George not only lies, but also retcons and tries to rewrite and change history. He would have done this again if he had made the Sequels with his treatments, not that this is important in this discussion.

I already said I do not dismiss everything George says, but again what matters more to me is what is onscreen. “show, don’t tell”. Explanations off the screen do not interest me very much.

It was his poor execution of the idea that made it nonsense to me, it happened so quickly it was not believable and was jarring. If it had been given more time to brew it would have been better. I think a bad idea done well can make it a lot better and more enjoyable. And a good idea done poorly can have an awful effect to a story in film.

I am not here to have an “argument”, as we are just discussing different ideas that we like and could have been better. I very much liked Mocata and Screams ideas from the other thread. And Spartacus01 post above was interesting too.

G&G-Fan said:

I don’t see how the “finding the secret to prevent death” is nonsense considering mortality is a big theme to the films. Force ghosts? “I’ve become more powerful then you can possibly imagine?”. Luke saying to Yoda that he can’t die and Yoda responding that that is the way of things?

I can’t speak for Mocata, Screams In The Void or others. For me it was nonsense because it was so poorly executed and poorly shown in ROTS, and I believe there were other better ways to have Anakin fall to the dark side. You think so too in creating this thread and your opening post: “Anakin’s turn to the dark side wasn’t structured the best in the Prequels.”

As Lucas said, the epitome of greed is the desire to cheat death. The Sith are defined by being greedy and selfish. There’s nothing more greedy then wanting to take away a fundamental aspect of the nature of living things because you can’t accept the natural course of life. Therefore, it makes sense that the ultimate goal of the Sith is immortality. And as I said in another thread, having Anakin’s turn be about cheating death creates a nice retroactive arc when Vader accepts his death in ROTJ (“Nothing can stop that now”).

I do not care too much for what Lucas said later, because if he needs to explain things afterwards he likely did not do a good job explaining them on screen at the time. Lucas is also not a reliable person to listen to so I do not take his words seriously as some others do, even as the creative genius behind all of this. I do like to listen to creatives talk about their work and intentions, what worked and what didn’t, but in the end what matters is what happens on screen.

As others say “show, don’t tell”.
 

But I do like reading your and everyone’s thoughts on restructuring Anakin’s turn to the dark side in the Prequels.

Spartacus01 post above is interesting and has potential too.

I really like Mocata and screams in the void’s ideas from https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Anakin-Skywalkers-turn-to-the-darkside-your-alternatives/id/85631

Mocata said:

From what’s actually shown in the movies I always assumed Anakin enjoyed being aggressive to win battles. He would have naturally grown impatient with the Jedi teachers and taken the easier path. It’s a far more human response to their doctrine. Instead of all that “I need the secret to preventing death” nonsense. The only part that makes any real sense is his anger against the Tusken Raiders. But it falls down because we don’t ever see how that anger gives him more strength, and there are no repercussions. Where is the fallout or his anger towards Obi-wan and the council for letting this happen, or letting the slave trade continue? What does he learn from the experience, did he enjoy killing or see how rage is a powerful ally? It’s basically forgotten instead of being a genuine part of his character development.

screams in the void said:

^ good points ! Letting the slave trade continue on the part of the Jedi and Anakin’s anger over it could have been great character development ,especially if he expressed his feelings to them towards it beforehand and they dismissed him out of hand and he felt gas lighted as result . What happened subsequently with his Mother and the Tuskens would have made his fall to the dark side, the perfect impetuous for it . He would have been more easily taken in by Dooku’s views , more sympathetic to Qui Gon’s defiance of the council , and Palpatine would have had the perfect route to manipulate Anakin’s conflicted emotions for his own gain and cement the process .

It makes a more compelling story across the Prequels and also as a more believable and reasoned basis for Anakin’s turn to the dark side than the “I need the secret to preventing death” nonsense. Followed by his lightning quick turn to it as we saw in ROTS.

daveybjones999 said:

So I’m not the biggest fan of the whole, how much of the fanbase actually likes something debate, cause it’s often difficult to actually gage something like this, and just because someone’s opinion doesn’t match with the majority doesn’t mean that said opinion is invalid, just that it’s not with the majority. However, if we want to get into the discussion on whether a show is popular or not the best we can do is go to several review aggregate sites and look at the ratings so that we’re not just throwing out opinions that we don’t know the validity of because obviously, people who liked a particular show would say that most people enjoyed it. So I went and collected the data from aggregate review sites, and I’m only looking at the audience ratings and if the site gives a number of how many people reviewed it I’ll post that as well. So IMDB has around 7.1 with 2.9K reviews, Google Users has 84% liking the show, Rotten Tomatoes has it at 64%, Metacritic has 6.6 user rating with 1,981 reviews, and letterbox has it at 3.3/5 with 103,883 reviews. If we take these numbers then we can say that the majority of people did in fact like Obi-Wan, but the fact that the approval rating is only around 65 would imply that people more than likely thought the show was just OK. That’s not an extremely good rating, but it does go to show that most people don’t feel that strongly about the show one way or the other, but that they’re more positive about it than not. Again I don’t really like this whole discussion but if we’re going to be claiming that a majority of people did or did not like something then it should probably be backed up by actually going and looking at the data we have available. And again no opinions are really invalid so even if someone disagrees with the majority that opinion is still completely valid.

This post is very good, and a reminder that what we often see often reddit or YouTube isn’t necessarily fact, or even accurate of the bigger picture. There is far more information to be taken into account than a subset of online fandom, including channels with their own biases and audience appeal. No matter how popular people think these channels are.

Patty Jenkins says Rogue Squadron is still in “active development”.

She has responded to some rumours about Rogue Squadron and Wonder Woman 3 on her twitter account.

“I originally left Rogue Squadron after a long and productive development process when it became clear it couldn’t happen soon enough and I did not want to delay WW3 any further. When I did Lucasfilm, asked me to consider coming back to RS after WW3, which I was honored to do and agreed. They made a new deal with me. In fact, I am still on it and that project has been in active development ever since. I don’t know if it will happen or not. We never do until the development process is complete, but I look forward to the potential ahead.”

She then talks about WW3.

https://twitter.com/PattyJenks/status/1602824242684252161

I hope it does get made, and that it is as good we many of us interested in the RS film hope it to be.

I hope Bail is well written for if he appears in the 2nd season of Andor. Some of his appearances in the animated series, and Kenobi, have shown a lack of care given to the character like others above have already said.

It is almost like Bail exists just to be contrived into appearing as a “call back character”, with only 2D or superficial thought given to the character or his role in the stories by the writers.
 

Poor dialogue and decisions in Kenobi like “I know we said no communication, but your silence worries me”.

At first he doesn’t know who has kidnapped Leia, but when he finds out the Empire have kidnapped and interrogated his daughter he says nothing publicly? An Imperial Senator not even mentioning it is surely suspicious, or would deserve a closer look, in the Empire’s eyes?
 

If Bail does appear in Andor, then it will be good to see this character at least get some care and respect from the writers. Maybe even as a fully fleshed out character with believable actions and intentions, which is something Andor has excelled at.

Gary Whitta (Rogue One writer) - “Years ago my Rogue One co-writer Chris Weitz and I had a cool idea for a TV show about a Mossad-style Rebel team hunting down Imperial war criminals who fled and disappeared after the fall of the Empire. Could have been a cool bookend to R1. We never did anything with it though.”

I would watch that. A cool idea.

Maybe even if set post-Sequel Trilogy and hunting down First Order and older Imperial factions. If done in a similar style and quality of Andor, it could add some much needed onscreen background to the story of how the First Order came about, existed, came to a situation where the Republic were easily overcome as we saw in TFA.

A bit like how Rebels, Clone Wars, Bad Batch and other content pads out the Prequel Trilogy and tries to plug the many gaps and questions in those films, this could for the Sequels?

Or if not, it could just be a cool post OT era series instead!

Although there will always be the contrarians, nitpickers and also some people with closed minds or agendas, it is okay if Andor is not for certain fans, because it is very different to what has come before, but there is much more other Star Wars content to suit their tastes too. This show is indeed different, and refreshingly so.

And yet it is so very pleasing to see many Star Wars fans happy and enthralled with Andor. To see countless others enjoy Star Wars again. It is also pleasing to see that something new and different to what has come before has been so welcomed and warmly received. Both critics and fans love this show, wanting to see more at the end of each episode. Even the YouTubers and social media are full of praise.

Who would have thought this before it aired? About a prequel TV series based on a secondary lead character, who is often described by some as being dull (me included!), of a prequel film made to explain how the Death Star plans ended up with the Rebellion?!
 

A heist caper and political drama on the seeds of how the rebellion are sown. Yet it is a show so compelling, even when there is little or no action onscreen. And when it does bring us the action, it is different, fresh and surprising. Or just a visual joy, like the Eye on Aldanhi scenes. Overall the show is mature in tone, gritty, real and easy to identify, but also requires and demands the attention of the viewer.

This unique project, several steps removed from the what we have seen in other modern Star Wars releases; Andor consciously cuts down on easter eggs and fan-service, instead telling a tense story about the birth of the Rebellion. A relevance to this modern world, and also the world shortly before we see Luke and Obi-Wan meet up and go on their damn fool idealistic crusade.
 

It also gives a sense of just how dark the galaxy really was, how much of a gamble the Rebels really took against the Empire. The themes and concepts of the OT films in particular are given even more depth and power. This is what all the best prequel stories do, they stand on their own two feet, but also add weight to the main story.

No lightsabers and no Jedis, but the Force is at work there, if you look for it. But mainly it is a back-to-basics show that captures the essence of the original trilogy and actually expands upon it, giving us a deeper look at life was like for the regular people living under the regime of the Empire. The people who would rebel. Andor’s characters are deliberately designed to feel more like ordinary people struggling to survive under this totalitarian regime.

Making its statements with an unusual degree of boldness for modern Star Wars, and the dialogue is sharp enough to even draw viewers into mundane machinations of the Senate, and the family life of those that work there. Fantastic performance from Genevieve O’Reilly, like there is from all the cast, and even secondary characters, and even from the droids too! To see the reactions of fans watching the finale where B2Emo is kicked over by that Imperial captain, because of the work put in and earnt by the show in making the audience care; to even give a shit about this droid even among the tension and terror of what we knew was to come.
 

I could go on and bore myself and everyone else I speak to about this show, and I do!

The compelling story and intelligent writing, the skilled directing, editing and amazing cinematography, beautiful set design and costuming, strong and yet nuanced acting and casting, impressive set-piece stunts and VFX, clever use of sound and music, the stunning yet grounding world building, character building and arcs (especially for the main character I did call dull previously!), how he both interacts and effects the people around him, and also evolves and changes himself of over the course of the series. The gripping tension that built up to several nailbiting climaxes, followed by the brief gentle lulls before effortlessly ramping up more tension and greater anticipation in the next arc of the story. The triumphs and the sacrifices, the braveness in showing the finality of death and how quick and easy it is to pay the ultimate price. Not forgetting the beautiful and memorable dialogue and speeches throughout. Not a single scene or character wasted.

I give a standing applause to Tony Gilroy and everyone involved in the making of this show.

Everything about this is so fucking great and enjoyable.

Everything!
 

Ice said:

I love how

Mothma uses her knowledge of her driver’s role to set up her husband as the fall guy and get the ISB suspicions off of herself

That was so well done, just like the rest of the final episode.

I thought for much of the week this episode may disappoint in some way, that it would be too difficult to end the season on such a high note, because of the amazing standards of what has come before, but they nailed it, the whole episode.

Now we have a long wait for season 2. But I hope the other Star Wars series coming soon are near the qualities and standards of this one.

Happy late Life Day!

Amazing interviews on your website. I also loved the interviews above, the personal stories and the anecdotes. Lucy Autrey Wilson must have some interesting stories from her time at Lucasfilm from the very start through to 2010!
 

I laughed hard on Time Winters answer to the Dark Forces II question of What is your own view on the game?: “What amazed me was that over the years so many people have proudly come up to me and said how many times they killed me in that game. Must be hundreds of thousands of times by now . . .”

😄