Friday at the Movies: Star Wars Episode VII-IX

Hi all,

Sorry I'm late again with the Friday at the Movies post! I was at a wedding this weekend and didn't take the time to write a post out. This is a place holder that I'll finish tonight, as soon as I finish the grad school work I was supposed to have done for tomorrow...
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Ok, this is being posted Monday because the internet is horribly slow. This weeks Extra! Extra! will be postponed (assuming it isn't cancelled due to my frustration over more internet woes). For now, Star Wars movies!

My reaction to Disney buying Lucas Arts was immediately positive, simply because my response to Dinsey buying Marvel was so negative, only to be proved wrong. Also, Disney has already had a working relationship with Star Wars that I've enjoyed in the past (who doesn't love Star Tours?).

When they announced Episodes 7-9, I became optimistically excited. This changed to ecstatic when I got official word that George Lucas is NOT directing them. YES!

Now, as long as they don't screw with established canon, I think I'll be able to appreciate the films (again, I withhold judgement until they are released, I made that mistake prior to Episode I). The big question is, what will the movies be about?

First, the actors are simply too old to do something that directly followed Return of the Jedi without re-casting or switching to CGI (or something). So that's confusing.

On top of that, and this is something that WASN'T an issue with the prequels (technically), there are already a ton of novels, comics, games, etc... which have established the official canon for Star Wars. These take place from moments after the destruction of the second Death Star up until several generations down the line 100 years later.

This would be Nerd-Approved

Will the new trilogy follow one of these, or go off on its own? If it goes off on its own, will it follow the established continuity, or will it alienate fans? I'm... well, hoping they choose to go from something already set up.

That being said, I think their are two good options for the new trilogies. First, and I believe most Star Wars fans have considered this, would be to make film adaptations of the Thrawn Trilogy. The trilogy takes place only five years after the last film, so there would need to be some work done with recasting or excessive use of CGI. Because of this, I'm concerned about them following so closely after Jedi.

What I personally think would be best is an adaptation of the Young Jedi Knights series for the first film, which grows into some of the earlier exploits in the second film to introduce the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, which the third film will see ended.

This way, the main characters are the children of the old cast: Jaina, Jacen, and Anakin Solo, Ben Skywalker, etc... and the original cast can be brought in appropriate to their age (though that may be too optimistic as well, considering the state of some of the original cast).

There is the problem of those stories taking place over the course of many books instead of just three, but I think compression would work, relying on gaps between the movies for the novels to fill in (as Shadows of the Empire was written to fill a gap). Still, I think it can be done and I really think it's time for a new generation of Star Wars characters, preferably ones that have nothing to do with Vader.

The story arc could potentially follow another Anakin (Solo) for the films, and that'd be fine, or they could even jump a bit further into the future, when Jacen becomes Darth Caedus, though then the time jumps may be disorienting.

Go from this...

... to this!

Those are my two cents, anyways. I'd love to see some other thoughts in the comment section below!