Unless you’ve had your head in the cosmic dust, you’ve probably heard that the next movie in the “Star Wars” series is due out this August. And, you’ve heard of the two potentially controversial decisions made by creator George Lucas.
First, he’s decided to make the films animated. Second, he’s going to be bringing future sequels to the small screen. These are two dramatic departures which will either be hailed by a new generation or criticized by those of us who grew up on “Star Wars” as, well, “Star Wars.” I for one believe “Star Wars” is so much more than a TV cartoon and I hate to see the franchise end up this way.
To me, the genius of the original “Star Wars” was its use of real actors in real sequences and real settings that combined with the story to create an authentic world of future and fantasy and a clarity between good and evil. Even the laser beams and light sabers looked real. This is one franchise which was well ahead of its time.
When the computer enhanced versions of the first three films came out, it was kind of interesting, I guess, but it looked a little too fake for me. The first two of the second set of sequels really lost me, though, because the computer animation required had a comic book feel that got away from the original. Jar Jar Binks just never was as real as Chewbacca.
So to hear that the entire series will be animated, to me, means that it will be called “Star Wars,” and it might be good, but it won’t be the “Star Wars” I grew up with, and that even my kids have loved and treated as classics. And when the biggest big screen thrill ride of all time ends up on the small screen, well, then we know its over.
Perhaps a whole new younger generation will love the new generation of “Star Wars” shows. But if they do, they’ll be loving them just a bit more than whatever’s on the other channels, and “Star Wars” will no longer have that epic status that separated it for so long.
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posted February 14, 2008 at 12:18 pm
What, you don’t think “Droids” and “Ewoks” were the pinnacles of George Lucas’s creative output?
posted February 14, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Special effects sterilized episodes 1 through 3. So making an appeal based on “live action” falls short of the mark. I hope their choice of animators is creative and not driven solely by economy. If it is handled well, and not as a knock off or as a quick money maker, these could become good additions to the Star Wars canon. The first lesson, no matter what the format, is that story has to drive the visuals, not the other way around. This is a lesson Lucas forgot in episodes 1 – 3.
posted February 15, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I think that this is a real stupid idea. The original was the best and no cartoon will ever replace this masterpiece. I have seen a lot of movie maker’s go to cartoon’s and they have wasted million’s of dollar’s on this tatic. I guess that they won’t understand that until they’ve wasted all that money. To me animation is fake and will never replace a human doing the part. It’s like saying that robot’s will take our place in the working industry, this will never happen because they will alway’s need someone to fix them, and because of this if the real world does go to this,and tick’s mankind off and takes away their job’s, there will be no one to fix the robot’s and the company will go broke. How many animated movies have gone down in history? To me, this is like making the movie titanic into a cartoon, I wouldn’t waste my time or money to go and see it, it just not the same!
posted February 16, 2008 at 12:32 am
this blog is all wrong. firstly, he’s making an 3-D version of “Clone Wars”, if you would READ starwars.com you would know that, and it’s being released into movie theatres on august 15th, later re-airing on cartoon network and then TNT, i think you guys are the ones with your head in cosmic dust. 2ndly, he’s already animated several things, first through a very short series about 3P0 and R2, there’s been some Ewok series, and there’s been a different version of “Clone Wars” that was aired on cartoon network in…2005 i believe. 3rdly, he’s not redoing all the series in animation, only “Clone Wars”, which is going to feature Anikan (Darth Vader) and his padawan (the person that Jedi Masters train to become eventual Jedi’s). 4thly, the movies have always been computer enhanced, George Lucas won Oscars for his achievements in special effects for Episode IV: A New Hope. he went back in…95? and re-enhanced them to do what he couldn’t do before, but wanted to, because he didn’t have the money or technology in 74′ as he did in 95′. obviously, because it’s a 21 year difference.
you have your facts all wrong. do a little thing called research before posting about something you don’t know about. or you’re going to piss a lot of people, like me, off.
posted February 20, 2008 at 2:28 pm
My 9yr old son has loved Star Wars for 2 yrs. He plays Leggo Star Wars on his Playstation and has seen 4 movies.