"Star Wars Episode 7" Will Be an "Original Story"

[carabas]

Hey, it just occured to me... Guess what else is owned by Disney?

[Number_5]

No, they SHOULD do a reboot and fix the mistakes of the last trilogy, they should make a completely clean start from a new beginning.
Building on the Original Trilogy will do nothing but draw comparisons and simply make it harder on them to succeed.

Wow. Do you seriously think that a remake will draw fewer comparisons than a sequel? LOL.

[Number_5]

Here's my take:

The droids should obviously be included. Back when I was a kid before the prequels it seemed to me that Star Wars was literally "crazy space adventures as witnessed by two droids who just stumbled into the middle of everything".

I think Star Wars is bigger than any one family. This concept just hasn't found its way into film yet, thanks to Lucas and his "epic tragedy" of Anakin Skywalker as told in the prequels (barf). When C-3PO said "No more of your adventures", nobody on this planet thought he was talking about flying around with preggers Padme while R2-D2 twiddled his retractable thumbs waiting for Anakin Skywalker to finish slaughtering those damned younglings. In fact, he couldn't have meant that since it's canon that C-3PO had his memory of the prequels wiped. So there's more to it than just Skywalker this, Skywalker that, even within just the droids' experience.

So, with that said, I think the new film should be a sequel and take place decades after ROTJ. It should be far enough into the future that the main cast is dead or really old (because they are old now). If there is a (human) member of the main cast to return, it should obviously be Mark Hamill as Luke. Carrie lost her looks long ago, and I highly doubt Harrison Ford would be interested. He wasn't interested back in the 80s.

In the new films, I think there should be a new generation of Jedi, founded by Luke, and he's either the oldest living master, a ghost, or a statue or something. This should not be his adventure. In fact, I don't even think this should be a Jedi's adventure, or a would-be Jedi's adventure.

IMO, the main character should be a female. That is, the main character that "leaves the farm and steps into a larger world" should be a female. I know we had Leia and Padme before, but they were both more or less already a part of the greater universe. Plus, we don't really need another princess-for-no-reason (other than to say "We have to rescue the princess!") and we also don't need another queen-for-no-reason (other than to be a living dress-up doll). Let the main character that goes out there, meets new people, and grows up over the course of the trilogy, be the female.

EDIT: That doesn't mean I want a female main character who is just all pouty-eyed and stuttering like in freaking Twilight, or all dead inside and fake like in goddamned Hunger Games. There can be some romance, but none of that tween, bad-example-for-younger-girls, angsty self-hating, semi-suicidal romance crap.

Furthermore, the main character (that will have the main character arc) should have no force talent whatsoever. We've already seen the farmboy who discovered he could become a Jedi, and then he became a Jedi. We've already had movies where the (debatable) main characters are Jedi from the start. This time, let's put the focus on some innocent farm-ish girl going out there and becoming a smuggler/rogue/gambler/bounty hunter/pilot/soldier/anything but a Jedi Knight instead.

Of course, that doesn't mean that there should be no Jedi at all. The main character could (and almost certainly should) meet a next-gen Jedi Knight along the way, and he/she could join the party. That's where the lightsaber fighting can come in, and since it's not the main character, the Jedi almost-main-character (like the role Han or Leia played) should have a compelling and developed background so that any full-on lightsaber fights will actually feel important or emotional, and be more than just glowstick shows (and these fights should be brief, much briefer than the prequels at least, jeez).

The next-gen Jedi should not wear robes. I thought the robes in the original movies were due to Tatooine and Dagobah, not Jedi knighthood. Luke did just fine in his black tunic, thank you very much, and his new Jedi would probably wear what they want, like he did.

The main plot should start somewhere in the seedy underworld of Star Wars, again, dealing with rogues and scoundrels and such. There wasn't enough of that in the prequels. I mean, seriously, what did we get of a seedy underworld in the prequels? A chariot race, a sports bar, and a 50s diner. And, I guess slavery, which made no damned sense to begin with.

The main plot should not be focused on politics, secret clone armies, democracy, tax disputes, budgetary investigations, separatism, etc. It should start small, as stated above. If it needs to be huge and epic, like planet-destroying huge, then sure, it can grow into that eventually. But please leave the space politics out of it.

If there is to be a war of some kind, since it's called Star Wars, then it should really be against some new enemy from the outside. There's plenty of folks who want to see remnants of the Empire trying to take back what's theirs. And I admit, I'd love to see me some future TIEs and stormtroopers. But really, we've already had two civil wars in two trilogies. Let's find a new enemy (I don't mean Yuzzhan Vong, or however you spell it, either).

Anyway, these are my thoughts, thanks for sloggin through them, if you did.

[Vidocq]

The EU is nothing more than fanfictions. That's the truth of it.

Readable fanfictions in some cases, rare though, but still nothing more than that.

No... because Fan created characters, plots and planets are not mentioned in the movies.... see the difference?

I just want a Jedi Wookie (there was a Wookie Jedi trainee on Clone Wars Saturday) and a Star Wars Academy cartoon.

Didn't it kind of suck to watch that episode knowing that those kids probably were killed by Vader?

[kane]

This is going in circles... but No. The Movies and TV Show (Yeah, by that Elitist definition of canon you have to take that in as well. No, not the great one) still take a lot from the EU and they are in the same continuity, the movies however can rewrite the EU and the EU has to work around them, one is above the other but they are still part of the same continuity. So yeah, it actually means something.

What Castel probably meant is, that as long Chewbacca is not dead in the movies, they can easily ignore the EU and bring him in the next movies. Nothing in the EU matters enough to have influence on the movies. Disney can ignore the whole EU and no one with the exception of some hardcore fans of the EU will care.

[Mat001]

George Lucas: Kill me.

More like this.

The EU is nothing more than fanfictions. That's the truth of it.

Readable fanfictions in some cases, rare though, but still nothing more than that.

Not quite. Lucas has long said that he couldn't tell every story that could be told, which is why he authorized the EU. Ergo, it isn't fanfiction. Not all of it will be used in making the ST, but it is still the official canon. Just not something that he has to use in his films.

[aNamored]

I would be too busy thinking ''OhmyGodLightsabersarereal!!!''

That would be my first thought before I open up a can of butt kick and take his.

[Vibranium]

What Castel probably meant is, that as long Chewbacca is not dead in the movies, they can easily ignore the EU and bring him in the next movies. Nothing in the EU matters enough to have influence on the movies. Disney can ignore the whole EU and no one with the exception of some hardcore fans of the EU will care.

exactly...I could see the cherry picking things for the new films if something works, but they aren't beholden to it

[Frank]

I just want a Jedi Wookie (there was a Wookie Jedi trainee on Clone Wars Saturday) and a Star Wars Academy cartoon.



If this is true, I'm mildly disappointed. I would prefer that they just start over clean and not try to follow the original trilogy at all.

You have to stick with a winning formula.

[Mat001]

exactly...I could see the cherry picking things for the new films if something works, but they aren't beholden to it

That is what has happened with "The Clone Wars". They've used EU stuff like Dathomir and focusing crystals for Lightsabers, but also made changes as well. Ventress was nearly killed by Dooku at Palpatine's order, but in the comics, she was still serving them right up to just before the kidnapping of Palpatine. Likewise, Obi-wan has fought Grievous in the cartoon, but in the ROTS novelization, it's stated that he had not faced him yet.

[ChrisIII]

Sometimes there is cross-continuity between the spinoffs and the films. Even happened with Star Trek, the character's first names in some of the films are from the novels (Hikaru Sulu and Nyota Uhura to be precise). Also the names of Kirk's parents in the Abrams reboot.
Also as a fan of Doctor Who, one of the key concepts from the new series, Gallifrey and the Time Lords being extinct is lifted somewhat from the novel series.

As for the fanfiction comparison, I'd argue that a lot of the novel writers have been known for their other work in sci fi circles, such as Greg Bear, who wrote "Rogue Planet", as well as others. Some of them probably aren't even big fans of the movies...

[Sighphi]

Wow. Do you seriously think that a remake will draw fewer comparisons than a sequel? LOL.

Who said anything about a remake?

[Number_5]

Who said anything about a remake?

Ok, you said reboot, still would draw more comparisons than a sequel. I mean, a reboot would have to cover old ground, yes?

[Phil Clark]

Who said anything about a remake?

Truthfully... reboots are just the latest term for remake. Remakes have never been complete recreations of the original, the term reboot is being used as the term for remaking a series, as opposed to a stand-alone film. But at their core, the are essentially the same thing, just with a different term describing them.

[DeadXMan]

can you imagine them trying to make a movie out of Heir to the Empire, only to have everyone bitch and whine about how the "book was better"? lol

.....That might actually be worth ticket price alone.