I feel a great disturbance in The Force...
As if "Jar Jar - the Musical" was coming soon.
Disney's newest, shiniest cash-cow, Star Wars VII, has picked up a writer in the shape of Little Miss Sunshine director Michael Arndt. The Hunger Games II scribe, who has also recently co-written a sci-fi movie for Tom Cruise, has apparently been working on a "treatment" for the movie for a couple of months, The Hollywood …
PS... the only made the *spit* prequels to make ROTJ look better. I tried to watch it again this weekend... couldn't manage it. I mean, what's the point of wearing forest DPM and dragging a shiny golden droid with light up eyes along in your party? Has no-one ever heard of spray paint in that universe?
Congratulations, you are now too old to enjoy RotJ, and can move on to something more age appropriate. Deal with it, internet.
The prequels turned out shit because Lucas was trying to flog a kids film to adults (kids don't want to watch senate debates, adults don't want to watch Jar Jar, no one, adult or child, wanted to hear about midichlorians). I'd expect Disney to be smarter than that (I don't hear anyone complaining about watching the latest Pixar/Marvel film with their kids), so my hopes are cautiously high.
But what is the point of chasing, then boarding a starship to retrieve stolen death-star plans instead of just blowing it up, bearing in mind that you are prepared to kill a planet-full of people just to make a point, anyway?
What is the point of attacking a fixed line defensive position on a snow covered planet by landing slow moving walking(!) tanks miles away from the enemy?
Why would you position your shiny new death-star on on an orbit around a giant planet on the opposite side from the moon you want to destroy and so that it will take hours until you will gain a line of fire on it?
Why would automated weapons on capital ships miss 99% of their shots at not-so-fast not-so-maneuvering "fighters"?
Forgetting to camouflage a robot is a totally insignificant minor flaw comparing to other gaping SW plot holes...
"What is the point of attacking a fixed line defensive position on a snow covered planet by landing slow moving walking(!) tanks miles away from the enemy?"
To be fair that one is explained in the movie - they had to attack under the energy shield the rebels were projecting above their base.
And why do all the spaceships bank and turn like they were flying in an atmosphere?
Why would a sonic mine work in space?
Why didnt the empire just fire a nuke from one of the atats instead of, as you say, meandering slowly towards the enemy's guns firing infective laser bursts.
Also, why design a towering war machine, but only have guns on the front with a very narrow firing radius?
As for this, I have high hopes, Disney have produced some cracking films over the years. The only way they could fuck it up is if they made it too lighthearted, family friendly and whimsical or another eastenders in space style snooze-fest like the prequels.
Also, in TESB they have ftl propulsion so they could have just chucked loads of relativistic velocity large mass missiles pretty much anywhere. They could have incinerated Hoth and the rebellion without putting boots on the ground. Shield generators around a tiny area wouldn't be much help if the entire planet is mega-nuked.
My version of the empire strikes back goes like this:
Darth: "Those bastard rebels are on that snowy planet"
[presses button]
Planet explodes as a million megatons hit it.
Darth: "not anymore, fancy a brew?"
I'd go for Joss Whedon as director.
Also, my main interest is that they get the politics right, or at least plausible. I say that knowing nothing about the post RotJ canon, I'll admit, but the Republic to Senate scenario, mirroring Rome, was excellently done, even in the prequels.
If Star Wars Seven was set 40 years after the defeat of the Empire with Carrie Fisher as a drunken has-been Princess and Harrison Ford as her faded-lothario serial-cheating abusive partner I don't much care what the rest of the plot might contain (though it seems implausible GIANT CGI couldn't be squeezed in somewhere) because I and a great numbers of fellow earthlings would be buying tickets like they invented 3D again!
I've read a bunch of the books but they were all lacking a crucial detail: an epic struggle.
1-3: can be summed up as the downward slide of a government into an empire.
4-6: rebellion against, and destruction of, the empire that took its place.
7-9: ???
What could they possibly do? The Thrawn series was pretty good writing but the story was ultimately nothing more than cleanup of "minor" dictators by iterating the same story, on a smaller scale. Same with most of the other books in the series.
There's not really any more story to tell. So I'll sum up what's likely to happen:
7 - Leia has kids. Kids are kidnapped, found and lots of things go boom. Cute cuddly sidekick introduced to help them. Along the way grandma is found and is instrumental in saving the kids.
8 - grandma is really a clone. Han wins award for having the first truly Evil mother in-law. of course, the kids thinks she is pretty cool and follow her on "adventures". They are now teenagers. Grandma takes over galaxy.
9 - Kids are now mid twenty something's. Overthrow evil grandma. The galaxy is saved. Again.
There, I just saved each of you around $200 in movie tickets, merchandise and god knows how much time.
So lets hope they can pull this off. I think they need to leave the Skywalker years behind them and pick another point in the Galaxy History (or redo the Skywalker saga from the beginning, but not sure anyone wants that), hopefully one with a little more kick-ass and a little less politics. Despite Jar-Jar and other Episode 1-3 mistakes, the light saber action was way cooler then in the original movies.
... can Hollywood rape?
Star Trek - now with "younger, edgier" characters (and more plot holes than a colander), plus the abominations that were the last season of the last TV show.
Star Wars - that taun-taun has already been beaten to death on this forum.
Tron - It might have been nice if the person who did the sequel had maybe seen the first movie? and if the motivations of the main characters had made a bit more sense? and could it hurt to have some actual in-jokes for computer nerds, like the first movie?
Starship Troopers - couldn't have been any more antithetical to the books if they'd tried.
Speed Racer.... no. just no.
I suppose I should be thankful that Hollywood has not yet gone after Space:1999, Salvage 1, or Wizards.
Yet.
there just going to jump 20-30 years on do the kids stories....Anakin Solo note Solo gets killed. There's a big fight between the other brother is the new sith and jedi sister, she save him by killing him and he's good again but ghostly. Then its the grandkids-story for 11,12,13....Light and Dark then Light then Dark....oh its such a roller-coaster, who bets the good guys win again. There will be an aging Wookie going BAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!
Star wars has a very long story.. Thousands of years:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_galactic_history
The Battle of Endor happened in 4ABY......
By 10 ABY ....
The Galactic Empire recaptures Coruscant, but splinters into two factions
&
The Empire is brought back under Sith rule when Emperor Palpatine is reborn in a clone body and makes Luke Skywalker his second in command. However Luke turns against him and kills Palpatine with Leia and destroys his flagship Eclipse.
I could post it all after that, but is better if people just click the timeline link and read it, because I can't be bothered
Controversy:
I liked all the Star Wars films (except for JarJar, Ewoks, Middleclorines (or wherever), and Anakin (what a twat)). Great mongy films.
I thought Star Trek was the most exciting and best film of 2009. Just brilliant. Enough of the plot hole bollocks and just enjoy the bloody thing. That shit up there on that screen is well enjoyable.