When I heard the news that Disney had bought Lucasfilm, initially my heart sank. Disney in control of Star Wars? What horrific torture would Disney inflict upon the franchise? Hasn't Star Wars been through enough already? Just leave it alone. But pondering upon it further, I wonder if this is actually the best thing that could possibly happen to Star Wars.
Personally, I thought that Lucas would never relinquish control of Star Wars. I thought he would carry on twatting about with the original trilogy and releasing dire prequels forever. Or at least until he died. But now that appears not to be the case. I think Lucas distancing himself from Star Wars can only be a good thing. We've already seen that he is unable to leave the thing alone, like a movie scab that he can't stop picking at. He says he's tired of the constant criticism from the fans. But let's be honest, that criticism wasn't without good reason. The fans desperately wanted to love the special editions and the prequels, but they just couldn't. Not in their heart of hearts and with a clear conscience.
Lucas is stepping back. So what does the future hold for Star Wars? Well, what we know is that there is to be another trilogy, and apparently these movies will be sequels to the original trilogy rather than prequels. Whether they'll be any good of course depends upon a myriad of factors. Factors like who Disney get to write and direct the movies. And of course how much those writers and directors take on board Lucas's ideas for them, and what those ideas might be.
Will the sequels follow the story of the original characters? Or will we see a new part of the Star Wars universe? If the movies are to follow the original characters then presumably we will see new actors brought in to continue the story. I think it's pretty unlikely they'll wheel out Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, etc. in the new movies. Maybe they'll have cameos, but I don't think we really want to see the Star Wars movies go down the same route that the Star Trek movies did.
Personally I think it would be interesting to use young, unknown actors rather than any big names, just like they did in the original Star Wars. We saw big names in the prequels like Ewan McGregor and Samuel L. Jackson, and they failed dismally. Samuel L. Jackson in a Star Wars movie should've been the coolest thing ever. It should've been all "Eat lightsaber, motherfucker!" but sadly it wasn't. It was meetings, and muppets, and more meetings, and people talking and doing boring stuff in front of CGI backgrounds. Anyway, I digress.
A lot of things have to be got right and there is so much potential for disaster. But when you look at the last three Star Wars movies, you could argue that the bar isn't set very high. More, decent action, less CGI, a good story and characters that we actually care about would be a start. Ooh, I don't know, like, say the original trilogy for example.
I wish that the prequels didn't exist. I wish that the original trilogy was all we had and that there will never be any more. But I realise that I have to live in the real world. There were dire prequels and there will be sequels. But they don't have to be dire. In fact, they could be wonderful. Disney has a golden opportunity, let's hope they don't screw it up.
I know there are bigger, more hardcore Star Wars fans out there (my friend with 'Sith Lord' tattooed on her knuckles springs to mind), but these are just my ponderings upon the future of a movie series that I originally loved and that I would dearly love to love again.
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