Another Star Wars Prequel? 661
boarder8925 writes "George Lucas said he was finished with the Star Wars movies, but it seems George Lucas has an idea for another add-on to the Star Wars movie series: a prequel to The Phantom Menace. The story would follow the Jedi regaining control of the universe from the many Dark Lords some 88 years before Anakin Skywalker ever graced the universe. Yoda, who, according to Lucas, was instrumental in the effort, would apparently have a headlining role. However, Lucas, now age 60, says he won't be captaining such a ship if it ever happens."
No! (Score:3, Interesting)
One would have thought that the Star Trek franchise was proof of how difficult that is to pull off.
This can only lead to good (Score:3, Interesting)
After Return of the Jedi, I didn't think there was a hope for the Trilogy, but now, with the latest three movies delivered, I realize that my feelings back then about the original movies were truly happy and optimistic.
Because Lucas was able to show me how far down the toilet he was willing to let the franchise go, I appreciate the original trilogy all the more. Even his remasters of the original three make me wax nostalgic for my childhood.
The one I'd like to see (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hmm... (Score:4, Interesting)
Star Wars was rejected by moviemakers on first draft because of the plagiarism, only after a significant re-write did they want to go forward...
The real prequel is called Dune.
Sequels (Score:4, Interesting)
for the love of god though there are some real gems in the books/comics set after the origional trillogy , Dark empire for example , the reformation of the jedis and so on
In a galaxy far far away (Score:5, Interesting)
The Starwars universe is great. A clever mix of magic, politics, religion and technology. This is what makes sci fi great. You take a few physical laws, mix them up a bit and see what happens when you introduce humans into it.
This is George Lucas' legacy: a standardised universe, that captivates the imagination. He has woven a rich tapestry of worlds, cultures and characters but is a lousy story teller, particularly dialog.
Please Mr. Lucas, let the universe go. Spend the remainder of you professional life as an executive producer who lets others write and direct, whilst you approve and fund.
As a side note, I'd really like to see a script from Kevin Smith. Given a free reign (and a ban from using his friends as cast members)he could write the Starwars adventure we all think we remember.
Re:The one I'd like to see (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:No! (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm not so anti SW prequels. Lucas has made a really impressive universe for his StarWars films, and it would be stupid to waste it.
What about if they made another trilogy of films following the example liad down by the game Knights of the Old Republic - set a triliogy in that same StarWars universe, with the already developed locations, mythlogy and nice Good versus Evil plot, but set it 1000 years in the past. You could have a whole new load of characters and focus the story in some Sith uprising or another. Oh, either avoid love scenes or get a director who can do them.
Re:The problem with this.. (Score:3, Interesting)
The other drawback is when you've got a character arc like Anakin's I, personally, like to know there's at least a chance of redemption. That maybe, just maybe, they don't get drawn too far into the dark. Even when they do, it's nice to know there's a chance they won't.
Prequels (or catching earlier seasons of a show) always let me down like that, as I know that there's no other possible way. In the case of Episodes I-III the whole point is showing Anakin's path to becoming Vader. But therefore there's no chance of him not falling, as the films where he's already fallen were made first.
Knights of the old republic (Score:2, Interesting)
Remake IV-VI? (Score:3, Interesting)
I really like the universe and I espect the fact that SW-fans is fanatic and all but... it comes down to one thing: Entertainment. Right now its just silly, tried looking at IV the other day and I couldnt stand the figthts, it does just not fit in anymore.
Actually I've got a great idea for a Prequel. (Score:1, Interesting)
I would like to see a Star Wars done so far in advance of even KOTOR that the "galaxy far, far away" is just in its first days of space travel and universal exploration. I don't know (because I'm not that big of a Star Wars fan) how long the Jedi order has been around, but I often wonder "what if" the Jedi were around even before the invention of such things as the light saber.
These extremely ancient Jedi could wield a lesser-evolved weapon like an atom-thin blade held together by a magnetic field...or they could just wield regular swords made out of some super-strong alloy that doesn't break easily. Actually, Jian (you know them as Tai-Chi swords...think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) would make great Jedi weapons as they require much mental and physical disipline to use properly. Most Tai-Chi masters won't even think about teaching you to use one until you've trained with them for over a decade.
Speaking of which, martial arts could be even more of a focus in such a production as it is something the fans would enjoy seeing on the big screen and would fit in with the Jedi codes of self disipline and their supernatural fusion of mind and body.
All the old tricks would be there, mind-trick, force push, telekinesis, etc...but maybe there could be room for some ancient Jedi powers forgotten by the time the more recent adventures come about. Perhaps elemental control? True telepathy? Astral projection?
As other posters have thought, we might even have the ability to see more of a backstory on the midi-clorians and perhaps even a creation myth with some supreme being founding the very universe itself.
In any event, a universe as vast as the one Star Wars is set it is filled with all sorts of good ideas waiting to happen. I, for one, think those who scoff at a new movie should sit back, relax, and know that there cannot possibly be a failure as catastrophic as that of Star Trek. Over-marketing doesn't kill a franchise...under-writing does...as in crappy.
I liked the prequels (Score:5, Interesting)
I just steadfastly remain intentionally shallow.
It's supposed to be eye candy, not give you a doctorate in comparative theology or high-energy physics.
Re:Hmm... (Score:5, Interesting)
Never having read Dune I was amazed how much of Star Wars was influenced by it, as outlined here [jitterbug.com]
To his credit, Lucas also robbed Flash Gordon, Kurosawa, Joseph Campbell, and Tolkien :)
STARWARS != SCI-FI (Score:1, Interesting)
Lucas has more in common with Tolkien than with Asimov, Clark, or even the movie Alien.
Re:Well, duh! (Score:4, Interesting)
Thus (like it or not) the prequals being more directly from Lucas are more directly cannon.
Unless a different definition specific to SW has been established (with Lucas's endorsement). It's my understanding that Lucas considers the Zahn books second ONLY to what he's put (most recently in the case of things like Queedo/Solo shooting) on the screen/vhs/dvd.
Also I seem to remember reading in one of the books that the Death Star series was THREE deathstars. The original devlopement prototype that never had an outer shell and was mainly a proof of concept/testbed for several years. The final working version destroyed in ANH (built over a few years itself) and the enlarged (almost double IIRC) sequal blown up in ROTJ.
This parts a bit sketchy in my memory but I seem to recall that the prototype DS was started in secret by Palpatine before he was powerfull enough to do as he pleased after the higher ups in the military rejected the proposal for it durring the clone wars. I believe it was built in a black-hole cluster near Kessal(sp?).
That black hole cluster was used to patch Solo's "in under 12 parsecs" statment of how fast the Falcon was by claiming that the trick to the Kessle run was how short a path through/around the mess of black holes you could plot that your ship had the speed and toughness to handle.
Mycroft
Dune was much more deeper than SW (Score:5, Interesting)
Dune deals with the fact that what you see into the future locks you into that - or more correctly, the self fulfilling prophecy paradox. Star Wars doesn't (maybe revenge of the sith does hint on that) . It just handles prescience as just a sense and tries to concentrate on moralizing about the Dark and Light sides of the Force. (which it did very well too). Also Dune deals with the inversion of scarcity - Melange which is rare, but common on Arakkis , Water which forms oceans in other worlds, but rare on Arakkis.
Dune carries a lot of fatalism - especially ironic because Paul is prescient. Also the fact that he lets go of Chani rather than turn into a Tlelaxu puppet - which Anakin was not able to do. Also the twins - a girl and boy , the mother dies at birth.
If you really think about it , the Matrix had some of the themes too - Neo is not The ONE , but turns out to be , Paul is not the Kwisatz Haderach , but he becomes.
Dune has the best eyecandy - I remeber dreaming about Shields and lasguns - the sound, color and shimmering feeling. For some of us, CG effects are never enough . Also yeah, the first 3 Dune books were good - the rest of them sucked (come on !.. honored matres' ?.Re:In a galaxy far far away (Score:3, Interesting)
A stereotyped and poorly thought out mix-up of magic and religion in a technological shell.
My strongest memory from watching the original Star Wars, back when it first came out, was my reaction to the climactic scene. "Trust the Force? He's flying a warp-capable starship, two of his best friends are robots, he's depending on one of them for his very life, and you're telling me he's gotta reject technology to win this one? Give me one huge bleeding break, George..."
The technology in Star Wars is "whatever looks good", and his "rich tapestry of worlds" is pretty much cribbed straight from Asimov's Foundation series, down to his capital city of Trantor.
I don't need to explain all the flaws in the universe, really. David Brin is much better at that than me, and did a bang-up job of it.
Midiclorians? Bah! A Jedi needs not these things.
Re:Well, duh! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I liked the prequels (Score:3, Interesting)
Of the prequels, only EPIII had a plot. EPS I and II were just filler that it seems like Lucas felt obligated to make. Watching all three of them (as I recently have) it is clear that Lucas really just wanted to make EPIII.
Re:Ideas (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, this was made very clear - neither Sith nor Jedi masters don't have more than one apprentice at a time. The difference being, of course, that Jedi masters let go of their apprentices and there is no rivalry amongst them.
It's important to notice that Anakin's fast advancement within the Jedi Order was possible only because of the turmoil created by the Clone Wars. He skipped some tests. He probably fought more than meditated. He, so to speak, sneaked past the system designed to screen against any padawan becoming too powerful without developing enough compassion and understanding. It wasn't all that hard, because it was a system built on trust, not paranoid suspicion.
And he managed to keep his relationship with Padme a secret from the rest of Jedi. His betrayal of the Jedi in a sense begun with that.
Re:Could be interesting. (Score:3, Interesting)
The security hologram scene was stupid looking. There was no time spent developing emotion. I wanted to feel for the characters and physically couldn't. You must have wanted it more than me.
The story had to be blatant (aka. Anakin had to verbally say why he was turning dark) or else you would never be able to infer what was going on. The real symptom of this movie (and the two before it) is that without blatantly being told what was happening, we would never know. The problem is that Lucas has no grasp of sublety.
Lucas is an incredibly bad director and writer. I will banket the statement by saying all bad acting performances were Lucas' fault. A New Hope was good because he was under enormous pressure to finish it. ESB and RoTJ were good because he had other people do the important work. These movies (and his bastardized remakes) are his vision. His vision sucks. He got lucky making Star Wars and got lucky with his timing to let the fan base create create an incredible universe. The story has not been his for a long time now and I don't think he has any right to go in and ruin it.
All that said, Episode III is by far the best of the prequels. But I also believe that all the "good reviews" of this movie have everything to with how pitiful the other two were.
88 years? (Score:3, Interesting)
I thought the Sith were in hiding mode for over a thousand years?
Not that I've come to expect continuity from lucas or the star wars universe or anything =)
I guess he'll have more edits in the I, II, III special edition trilogy box set re-re-re-release.
e.
Simpler explanation: (Score:5, Interesting)
I mean, this is high school physics stuff. The most basic 'science' stuff in sci-fi and Lucas fucks it up.
Re:Hmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, now I think about it, that whole battle was pretty much lifted from the The Dam Busters. Especially if you compare the trench run with the flight down the river lined with guns on the way towards the dam.
Exactly! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Simpler explanation: (Score:2, Interesting)
I honestly think Peter Jackson would make a better Star Wars film than Lucas, he seems to delegate much more effectively. Heck, the dialog comes out better too.
Re:This can only lead to good (Score:4, Interesting)
The new movies lack elements present (even central) in the original 3. There was always the slapstick. C3PO was the butt of many jokes. However, the sarcastic intelligent wit of Han was completely gone. The part for the adults was simply left out, with nothing similar to fill the void. And relationships. We have brother-sister that don't know, with Han and Luke both fighting for the same plucky girl. In the new 3, there is no mystery who she will end up with, no double-entendre, and the scenes are painful, uninteresting story development, rather than fun and interesting scenes by themselves. Leah is directly quoted for some of her good lines related to Han, Luke (though possibly as badly delivered as in the new 3) is quoted as well.
So, what filled the void? Much better flight/fight scenes. The movies can't be aimed at the same audience, because many key elements are significantly different. That is the complaint. He builds a fan base, then ignores them for what (presumed by the fans) is the search for more money. Maybe he would have done better if he were gretly restricted on the money he could spend. Then he would have spend more time coming up with a story and lines, rather than impressive fight/flight scenes.
Re:Hmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
I mean really, do you think they actually researched that sort of thing? Like Harrison Ford said to Mark Hamill, "this ain't that kind of movie, kid"
Re:Dune was much more deeper than SW (Score:2, Interesting)
I disagree. Maybe the vehicles for getting the overall message of the books could have been better, but they were plausible. Don't even try to tell me that /.'ers haven't gone blind from too much mastur...I mean sex.
The first 3 books dealt with the overcoming of the totalitarian influence as exerted by outside influences (most notably Corrino). The last 3 books dealt with the overcoming of the totalitarian influence as exerted by the prescience of the one that freed them from the oppression: this is an irony that should not be overlooked.
However, I always found it funny that all 6 books could be summed up with: "Be careful what you wish for." LOL
By the way, I've read the "House Atreides," "House Harkonnen" and "House Corrino" prequels, and while slow at first ended up being great auxilliary material to the original Dune series. I have yet to begin "The Butlerian Jihad."
Re:What else to say than... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Hmm... (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Hmm... (Score:3, Interesting)