Star Wars Live-Action Show Could Still Happen 126
An anonymous reader writes "According to ABC entertainment president Paul Lee: 'We'd love to do something with Lucasfilm, we're not sure what yet. We haven't even sat down with them. We're going to look at [the Star Wars live-action TV series], we're going to look at all of them, and see what's right. We weren't even able to discuss this with them until [the deal] closed and it just closed. It's definitely going to be part of the conversation.' Not only that, but it's also been announced that some of the 50 completed episode scripts that producer Rick McCallum has previously mentioned have been written by none other than Ron Moore of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica fame."
Only this (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe I speak for most of the fan base when I say simply: You better not have a writer's strike in season 3, followed by management going full retard as dollar signs flash before their eyes. One series has already paid the price for that. If you ruin another geek culture icon, there'll be hell to pay.
Re:Only this (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh please. This geek culture icon has already been thoroughly ruined by the Prequel movies. There's nothing more they can do to hurt it at this point, it'd be beating a dead horse.
I'm really disappointed that Ron Moore wasted his time writing scripts for this turkey, instead of devoting his talents to something more productive and worthwhile. Can the guy not come up with a unique new sci-fi show on his own? Or is he only able to write episodes for someone else's show, or come up with shows that are rehashes of old shows? Don't get me wrong, the new BSG was pretty good and the the writing in the episodes (particularly the earlier ones and pilot; it seemed to kinda fall apart later on) was excellent, but it was still not a unique concept, it was a remake of someone else's older show. But Star Wars of all things? SW has been crap ever since Ep.1. Surely he could come up with a unique new concept for a good sci-fi TV show.
Re:Only this (Score:5, Funny)
Don't get me wrong, I like Ron Moore's work more than I dislike it, but there is plenty to dislike and plenty of places that it can go full derp.
At least Moore has a sense of humor about it. There was an epsiode of CSI set at a convention for a fictional sci-fi show, and the show was "reimagined" in the same vein as BSG and after showing the teaser for it, out in the crowd, Ron Moore shouted, "YOU SUCK!" at the writer/producer of the new show. This was based on an experience that he actually had.
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Keira Knightley was in Episode I.
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Oh please. This geek culture icon has already been thoroughly ruined by the Prequel movies.
It's been my observation that the only ones who share your opinion were children when EPIV came out. I was in my twenties, and about the only difference I saw was the effects and costumes were far better in the prequels.
As an adult watching them, the one that ruined the franchise was EPVI. I mean, Jesus... those midgets in the cheezy bear costumes were REALLY lame. I had to forget just how bad VI was to even watch E
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Re:Only this (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh please. This geek culture icon has already been thoroughly ruined by the Prequel movies.
It's been my observation that the only ones who share your opinion were children when EPIV came out. I was in my twenties, and about the only difference I saw was the effects and costumes were far better in the prequels.
As an adult watching them, the one that ruined the franchise was EPVI. I mean, Jesus... those midgets in the cheezy bear costumes were REALLY lame. I had to forget just how bad VI was to even watch EPI; if that had come out two years after EPVI I probably wouldn't even have watched it.
IMO, EPIII was excellent, especially the opening scene with the big space battle, and the fight between Obi-Wan and Vader. I see bitching about the "mitichlorians" but you have to remember, these aren't human, they're aliens from another time and another galaxy. That alone demands a HUGE suspension of disbelief -- a race from another galaxy looks exactly like us?? That's harder to swallow than FTL travel.
Woah woah wee-woah woah. First off, the human-like creatures in star wars are canonically human [wikia.com]. Theories regarding their connection to earth are diverse, but the connection has not been explained in canon.
Regarding the movies - EPVI is a personal favorite of mine, though I will concede that many fans (especially those who were adults when EPVI was released) are turned off by the Ewoks. I also enjoyed some scenes in EPIII, specifically the ones you mention. There were actually scenes in all three of the prequels that were well done and thoroughly enjoyable (ref. DM vs. QGJ in EPI). The primary complaints, especially from the more "hard-core" fanbase are with silly plot and lore related changes that were made for seemingly no good reason. Also, casting for some critical characters was worse-than-terrible (e.g. Anakin).
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First off, the human-like creatures in star wars are canonically human
Your source is incorrect. It says "Humans were the galaxy's most numerous and politically dominant sentient species with millions of major and minor colonies galaxywide. Believed to have originated on the galactic capital of Coruscant..." but it's supposed to be set "in a galaxy far, far away." Interstellar travel is enough of a stretch, intergalactic is WAY out of bounds. It might have been plausable if set in the Milky Way, but...
The th
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First off, the human-like creatures in star wars are canonically human
Your source is incorrect. It says "Humans were the galaxy's most numerous and politically dominant sentient species with millions of major and minor colonies galaxywide. Believed to have originated on the galactic capital of Coruscant..." but it's supposed to be set "in a galaxy far, far away." Interstellar travel is enough of a stretch, intergalactic is WAY out of bounds. It might have been plausable if set in the Milky Way, but...
Intergalactic travel is certainly implausible, and the Star Wars universe has an interesting sort of reverse deus ex machina preventing most hyperspace travel outside the galaxy. [wikia.com] There are, however, certain encroachments [wikia.com] from outside the galaxy. Nevertheless, everything in canon indicates that the Star Wars humans are intended to be the same species (or at least, an evolutionary variant) as humans IRL. The connection to Earth is currently unexplained, as I mentioned before.
(sorry for the nerding-out her
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sorry for the nerding-out here
Hey, this is slashdot. It's refreshing to see a real nerd among all the high school dropouts who have infested this place lately. Notice that whenever some dufus is corrected, the correction gets modded down but not the idiocy that's being corrected?
Re:Only this (Score:4, Interesting)
I feel like the lone guy who really likes the Ewoks. The whole point is they look unassuming both physically and in terms of technology, and they still fight back (with a measure of success that can't just be attributed to the heroes). It's like Yoda, although Yoda at least had magic powers.
The Ewoks represented what is usually a tired trope for humans -- the physically and technologically weaker species that fights back through sheer iron will. Happens over and over in sci fi movies where humans are the weaker species and they just will themselves to beat the aliens. Not usually some other species using sheer will to beat the humans.
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I had no real problem with the Ewoks. Then again, the whole of the Endor-surface thing was the B-plot for me.
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I don't know about anyone else, but one of the reasons I enjoy watching sci-fi shows is to explore the universe someone created. When the universe is thoroughly explored or the consistency is shot to hell, then it just might as well be any show.
The problem is that big corps prefer to take the "safe" route and put money behind things that are already well known and tested, even if they are mediocre.
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Exactly, that's why we wind up with tons of shitty sequels. It's a safer investment than something new and different.
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Apparently, Andromeda was originally suppoed to be a Star Trek series, with one ship (presumably some form of Enterprise) having survived the fall of the Federation.
That would have been a series worth watching, I think. (especially considering how Andromeda fired the main writer early on and never recovered).
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Oh please. This geek culture icon has already been thoroughly ruined by the Prequel movies. There's nothing more they can do to hurt it at this point, it'd be beating a dead horse.
I'd beg to differ. Hokey CGI comedy relief characters >> angsty tween romance characters. Have you *seen* the previews for the spate of crap coming out soon courting the Twi-hards? There are depths the Star Wars folks have yet to plumb; let's pray they don't.
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Well to be fair, I'm not comparing the SW prequels (or any other possible spin-offs, even if they're specifically written to have dialog just as "high quality" as Lucas's best) to the absolute worst imaginable dreck coming out of Hollywood, I'm just looking at it on its own merits. At some point, stuff gets so bad that it's kinda pointless to compare how bad it is. Is the Twi-hard-courting-crap better or worse than Gigli, for instance? Or how about Battlefield: Earth? Who cares? There's a lower cut-off
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Yep; the only reason to pay any attention at that point might be for the amusement factor. But personally, I stopped paying much attention to anything Star Wars-related after seeing Ep.2.
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Yep; the only reason to pay any attention at that point might be for the amusement factor. But personally, I stopped paying much attention to anything Star Wars-related after seeing Ep.2.
Too bad. Episode 3 was by far the best of the prequel trilogy.
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The cylons had a plan. The writers did not.
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Ruined for you maybe. I really liked the prequels. It's fun for geeks to slam them, but they sure do draw a hell of a lot of sales and eyeballs. You're going to find out what "ruined" means when Disney starts milking the franchise for whatever it's worth.
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I'm really disappointed that Ron Moore wasted his time writing scripts for this turkey,
I am sure he didn't waste his time, as he probably got paid handsomely for his effort. Or do you only do work that might see the light of day?
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The new BSG had little in common with the old one to be honest. Come to think of it, the old one was very much like a Star Wars series, especially the intro.
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They might've been watchable if they weren't totally ruined by the horrible dialog. That's easily the worst part about them. A middle-school kid could write better dialog than that.
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Yet again I must refer ya all to Mr Plinkett's reviews of eps 1-3
redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/ :)
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Flamebait /Flamebait
You are thinking of Star Trek fans, this is Star Wars.
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If you ruin another geek culture icon, there'll be hell to pay.
They're quite capable of ruining Star Wars* without a writer's strike.
*again
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If you ruin another geek culture icon, there'll be hell to pay.
No there won't. There'll be a few angry nerds that no-one in charge will care about because they're already picking through next season's must watch TV. Monkey Tennis, Cooking in Prison, and so forth.
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Ah the Firefly riots of '03... I must have forgotten about them.
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Shame because of all the great shows that became lost opportunities, Jericho definitely didn't deserve the 2nd chance card.
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Monkey Tennis...
I am intrigued.
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Glee Wars? (Score:2)
Please make it a musical, please make it a musical...
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Re:Only this (Score:4, Insightful)
if by 'hell" you mean "more nerdrage on blogs and forums by a meaningless minority that will have no detectable effect on the bottom line", then sure. Otherwise, not so much.
Get over yourself. Nerds don't pay the bills, never have. never will.
Ron Moore's Galactica finale sucked so bad (Score:2, Insightful)
it retroactively made all other Galactica episodes suck. It killed the DVD market for the series.
Hopefully, he won't do that to Star Wars. Lucas has done enough in that area.
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There's nothing he can do to hurt Star Wars: the prequels have already ruined it forever. You think the BSG finale ruined the whole show? Lucas's prequels were 10x worse than that. Why anyone over the age of 12 would want to watch anything else related to Star Wars again (except the original 3 movies, after meditating to mentally block the prequels from their consciousness) I have no idea.
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Re:Ron Moore's Galactica finale sucked so bad (Score:5, Funny)
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I heard there was a second Matrix movie, but they scrapped it with only the last 10-15 minutes still needing to be filmed. Oh well.
(Too bad The Matrix didn't get made 20 years earlier, or they might have made a Christmas special!)
Re:Ron Moore's Galactica finale sucked so bad (Score:4, Funny)
There's nothing he can do to hurt Star Wars: the prequels have already ruined it forever.
The Holiday Special. [wikipedia.org] You have not even begun to appreciate the power of the dark side.
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My daughter bought that for me as a Christmas present. Fortunately, my house was burgled and all my DVDs stolen before I had a chence to watch it.
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You may be the luckiest man alive.
Re:Ron Moore's Galactica finale sucked so bad (Score:5, Interesting)
I know a lot of people disagree, but I loved the finale. It's grown on me more since it aired too. There is something about that conclusion that still really sticks in my mind and still pops up in my head sometimes when I read about advancements in A.I.--the idea that humanity is all but doomed to create the A.I. that will lead to its destruction, but that there is also somehow infinite hope that they won't make the same mistake THIS TIME.
I find it both a disturbing and comforting conclusion at the same time (don't think I can say that about the finale of any other series). It's hopeless in the sense that we're probably going to do it all again, but comforting to know that SOME DAY we're going to get it right (maybe even this time).
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I know a lot of people disagree, but I loved the finale. It's grown on me more since it aired too. There is something about that conclusion that still really sticks in my mind and still pops up in my head sometimes when I read about advancements in A.I.--the idea that humanity is all but doomed to create the A.I. that will lead to its destruction, but that there is also somehow infinite hope that they won't make the same mistake THIS TIME.
Wasn't the ending of BSG--that we are descendants of an advanced alien culture whose last survivors crashed on Earth and started over without the advanced technology--basically a rip off of HHGTTG?
Anyway, I expect any new live action Star Wars show to be a Sith Lord secretly living with 2 Jedi. Yoda is the nosy landlord who's always one step behind their zany schemes.
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There where already people living on earth, the 50k remaining ones bred into humanity.
Or something along those lines.
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Wasn't the ending of BSG--that we are descendants of an advanced alien culture whose last survivors crashed on Earth and started over without the advanced technology--basically a rip off of HHGTTG?
Er, no. Earth was manufacturered so some mice could perform an experiment to find out the answer to everything. Unfortunately, due to the president of the universe lobotomizing himself because he wanted to find a legendary planet renowned for making other planets, an order was signed causing the Earth to be demolished minus two of its previous inhabitants, both British. The mice have to create a second Earth. After an aborted attempt to remove the brain of one of the survivors when they arrive at said legen
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Wasn't the ending of BSG--that we are descendants of an advanced alien culture whose last survivors crashed on Earth and started over without the advanced technology--basically a rip off of HHGTTG?
Er, no.
You say no, but nothing you list contradicts what I've said. Yes, the Earth is a manufactured planet, a large computer build to calculate the answer to the ultimate question. But Aurther Dent (and other modern day humans) are not OEM parts. They're decedants of the Golgafrinchams on the B-ark.
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Yes, the Earth is a manufactured planet, a large computer build to calculate the answer to the ultimate question.
I thought Deep Thought was created to find the answer and that Earth was created to find the question....
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Yes, the Earth is a manufactured planet, a large computer build to calculate the answer to the ultimate question.
I thought Deep Thought was created to find the answer and that Earth was created to find the question....
D'oh. You are correct.
Re:Ron Moore's Galactica finale sucked so bad (Score:5, Insightful)
I know a lot of people disagree, but I loved the finale.
THROW THIS MAN IN THE PIT OF DESPAIR!
Everything started out beautifully choreographed -- tight plot linkage, excellent character development, and then a horror unmatched since Whedon introduced season 5 of Buffy was unleashed. It's tenacles slithered out and devoured all that was good and wonderful about the series. Many drinks were had. Friends consoled each other in unlit basements, warmed only by the glow of an LCD monitor. It was dark times. People like you make me sick.
Fred and Carrie disagree... (Score:2)
... in fact, they disagreed so much, they had Ron write another episode!!!
Good thing he was local to Portlandia
Ron Moore does not equal automatic genius (Score:2, Informative)
The fact that a script has been written by Ron Moore doesn't mean much here. The evidence lies in the entire third and fourth seasons of Battlestar Galactica, as well as innumerable episodes of Star Trek: TNG.
The latter provides an especially effective example because he was restricted by a world that was someone else's design, in much the same way he would be in a Star Wars series. Moore's work was nothing special.
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I think he tends to indulge in cargo-cult writing. He'll pull in a bunch of neat ideas from other sci-fi works which give the whole thing a great foreshadowing/arc feel but when it comes time to tie it all together and wrap it up, he just doesn't have the chops.
They should tie him and Jane Espenson together and throw them to the sarlac.
Disney + Ron Moore ? (Score:3)
I do not see this relationship ending amicably.
Re:Disney + Ron Moore ? (Score:4, Funny)
I do not see this relationship ending amicably.
Would you prefer Disney + Ron Jeremy?
Before you get too excited (Score:1)
30-40+ year old nerds, just remember this will not be aimed at you, just like all of the movies, it will be aimed at children.
Star wars is a kids franchise.
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It's basically just Harry Potter in space, deal with it, nerds.
Re:Before you get too excited (Score:5, Interesting)
Except McCallum and Lucas described the live action TV series as Deadwood in space. They've suggested it will be so dark and mature that only HBO would air it.
The plot is supposed to center on bounty hunters between Episode III and IV.
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There's a difference between "dark" and "mature." The former absolutely does not apply the latter. Gratuitous sex, violence, and shock value (incest, infanticide, rape, cannibalism, etc.) do not generally make the plot better or characters more engaging.
Most "mature" games, movies, and TV series are aimed at folks who still haven't gotten over the thrill of finally being allowed into an R-rated movie.
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This is still Lucas. I doubt he wanted to center a show on rape and cannibalism for no good reason. However, the show will likely be anti-heroes if it does center on bounty hunters. They'll constantly be surrounded by criminals and there will be a lot of death.
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I was 25 when EP IV came out, watched it at the theater with two friends the same age and we all loved it. EPV was even better. EPVI sucked donkey balls, those Ewoks were really REALLY bad. I've never seen worse costuming in any movie (although one or two Star Trek episodes had a few as bad). So I'll agree about EPVI, but not IV or V.
What source Material? (Score:3)
Are we going to get to see Thrawn?
Can't get worse (Score:1)
As fan who was there from the beginning -- I came in from summer break to hear my classmates talking about Dark Vader and the Jet Eyes, and after my brother came down with tonsillitis, I got to go see it in all of its original glory at the theater, sans the "Episode VI". I've been a fan of the story of Luke Skywalker, not the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker. I collected the figurines and watched the Christmas Special. Empire blew me away, and Return left me with an "eh" feeling. Han shot first, and the firs
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On the contrary. I didn't mention the other three on purpose. Good taste, bad taste, no matter: Return (unedited) outclasses the new three without even trying, and it was my least favorite of the first three.
Hopefully, it won't be Jedi the Series (Score:1)
Like Blade the Series. Execution is everything with shows and budget is only a small part of the equation
I'm not gonna rag on the prequels; it's been done to death already. They were made, done, deal with it.
Just get the right one... (Score:3)
I can see it now (Score:5, Funny)
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Fuck, are you kidding? Blank screen and static piped in is better than Twilight.
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"Two students enter their first year at the academy. One wants to be a storm trooper, the other a Rebel pilot;
And together, they fight crime [tvtropes.org]!
How about something NEW? (Score:1)
Instad of rehashing the same old stuff. Same goes for Star Trek.
Give it up and be creative for once!
I got Scripts for a Star Trek show i am writting.. (Score:1)
"Live" "action"? (Score:2)
Are you sure you don't you mean "Two robed guys walking in front of a green screen, discussing politics for 80% of the time" again?
Can we do something else now? (Score:4, Informative)
This franchise needs to die. It's been 35 years now. Enough already.
There's plenty of modern hard SF out there that could be made into movies. Most of David Weber or John Ringo's works would translate well into action movies or TV. A Snow Crash movie or series would work. ("Dark Angel" came close, but they lost the plot in Season 2.)
Trend: At Barnes and Noble, there are now fewer bookcases of "Teen Paranormal Romance", and more of "Teen Survival". Most of the latter consists of Hunger Games clones. Vampires and werewolves seem to be on the way out.
If you like bad franchises that just won't stop, Police Academy 8 [imdb.com] is currently in development.
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If you like bad franchises that just won't stop, Police Academy 8 [imdb.com] is currently in development.
What about A Good Day to Die Hard? I understand that John McClane discovers at the end that he's been dead the whole time.
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I really doubt Disney bought LucasFilm for 4G$ only to let it die and not produce anything. Sorry for you
Disney has a whole division, DisneyToons, for producing crap sequels. Mulan II, Cinderella II, Jungle Book II, Pocahontas II, 101 Dalmations II, The Lion King 1 1/2, Bambi II... Looks like they're extending that to live action.
Don't want to see more (in the near future) (Score:2)
Both trilogies had great endings. RotS really tied things up well. A live action show will only reduce the series as TV can't compete with cinema. This isn't like Star Trek upscaling to the movies. Downscaling a franchise based on otherworldly special effects can only lead to disappointment.
boba (Score:1)
Wish it was Alan Moore (Score:1)