Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Star Wars Episode VII:...


          After thinking about it, I’ve come to the decision that I am very excited about the future of Star Wars.  I was sure that in my lifetime I would see a new Star Wars film, I was just certain it would be well after George passed on and whoever was left the rights would want to be able to send their great-great-great-great-great-grandkids to college.  Thankfully the wait is over sooner than expected and Disney has stepped up with their big pockets and bought Lucasfilm for 4.05 billion dollars (Dr. Evil style).

If there is one thing Disney knows how to do is market the hell out of something, so I’m certain wherever we look for the next few years we are going to see Star Wars of tv, phones, computers, on the road, in the theater, everywhere, it will be there in our face, and some will be sickened by it for sure.  With that will come the eventual drawbacks that will be jumped on like sandpeople on a land-speeder by the haters on the net.  That joke will make more sense to more people in a few years by the way.  Along the way to great Star Wars content we will be besieged by a barrage of kid-friendly, Disney-oriented, over-baked, over-saturated, and a ton of other hyphenated words I can’t even think of right now that will equal, crap.  Just plain Star Wars kiddie crap that will drive fans insane.  Possibly even worse that Jar Jar.  Believe it.

However the silver-lining is that amidst all the smashing garbage on the detention level (‘nother Star Wars joke) we will get a few, and hopefully more gems related to the Star Wars universe, and even more hopefully this greatness will be in the cannon of films that encompass the original trilogy and the prequels.  Speaking of films, that is what is at the foremost in my mind right now.  Since this is a film blog, I am most curious about the seventh Star Wars film.  Yeah, Disney announced three more after the initial one in 2015, just three years and one flying DeLorean DMC-12 ride away.  But the first one is going to set the tone and the path to the future storylines.  I’m less concerned about what Lucas has in treatment form and more curious about who is going to bring it to us.

So for sure we have Kathleen Kennedy, the new president of Lucasfilm in the producers chair, and who else would you want there except the person who helped bring to the screen films like: E.T., The Goonies, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, and The Last Airbender… well ok, but there are definitely more hits than misses on her record, and surprise, Airbender was a hit even though we all hated it.  As far as writers, well Disney has so many at their disposal, from the Pixar guys to their newly acquired Marvel. Even though Joss Whedon is tied up in Avenger-land, he may deserve a peek, and more so the Marvel “Architect’s” who have truly made the company what it is today.  Great writers on great runs like Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers), Matt Fraction (Iron Man), Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four), Jason Aaron (Wolverine) and Ed Brubaker (Captain America).  Check out what these guys have done in the past decade and you will see that they know how to tell stories, both big and small.

As for the director’s chair?  A friend of my suggested and I agree that the former Pixar alumni Brad Bird who is coming off his big win with “Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol”, is the best choice, he can write and direct live action and animation, and has proven he can give the proper shot in the arm to a franchise.  He is currently slated to film “1906” a period action/thriller from the sound of it.  But if Disney shows up at his door with a wheel-barrel of money and says bring Star Wars back to life.  Would he say no?

All in all, this is a very exciting time for Star Wars fans, and as I said there will be things we wish never would have been brought to life, but in the exchange we will get some great stuff that will remind us why we became fans in the first place, and how we still want the force to be with us…always.

--Robert L. Castillo         

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