Well, I would argue Lucas did a good job of destroying the beauty that was Star Wars, but now Disney says

"fans can expect a new "Star Wars" movie every summer for at least five years, with installments in the official series alternating with stand-alone films that will focus on well-loved characters in the "Star Wars" universe."

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-tal … 36926.html

here's the funny part of the article:

"they're [Disney] aiming for quality as well as quantity."

Disney...quality? Now THAT was a good one

This reminds me of the quote from the Squaresoft head saying how when they hit the jackpot, they have to get as much juice out of it as possible.

So basically, future Star Wars properties could possibly be compared to the post-Sakaguchi Final Fantasy games.

Nothing could possibly be as bad as the prequel trilogy. Nothing.

Hmmm, famous last words?

Is it still trendy and hip on the internet to bash Disney? 

Believe it or not, people still abbreviate Microsoft to "M$".

Trendy? who cares. I call the shots as I see them.

Because the Marvel movies under their charge have been soooooo awful, right?

I'm not going to lie...I want to see Disney vs Capcom so bad! There is so much potential in there.

Did they make the Spider-Man films, because yes those were awful. I saw The Avengers and that was pretty bad. I wouldn't call it awful, but it was nothing more than special effects porn. Basically, if this is how Disney is going to treat Star Wars, then you can expect special effects with little to no plot, lots of "witty" (not really) one-liners, and lots and lots of movies that are loosely connected and are more or less the same thing. Yeah, pretty awful is how it sounds right now. Still, I'll wait and see, but it's a bleak horizon.

Sony made the Spider-Man films. I really enjoyed Avengers and thought it was a huge amount of fun. It felt like a big blockbuster, it had characters I liked, some humour and loads of great action. And it was coherent. Almost none of that I could say about the Star Wars prequels so if they can make Star Wars more like Avengers I would be very happy with that.

So like the original Star Wars trilogy then?

Congratulations on being the only person on the planet who didn't enjoy The Avengers.

There hasn't been a good Star Wars film since the original trilogy.  Why are people *now* so worried that Disney is going to come along and "ruin" it?  It's already been ruined.  This all seems like complaining just for the sake of complaining to me.

I don't fall into crowd-mentality. If I like something, I don't care if no one else does or if lots of people do. At any rate, I hate to break it to you but I'm far from the only person who did not think The Avengers was amazing. By the way, I enjoyed watching the movie, I just thought it was typical of most Hollywood films and far from spectacular. Which is not to say it was a "bad" movie, I just thought it was generic and I don't have any desire to see it again. I will agree with you that Star Wars was ruined nicely by Lucas. I think many people were hoping Lucas would redeem himself by creating another high-quality trilogy (sequel to the original Star Wars). That would mean having someone with talent write the next few films, and again who knows what will happen, but I just don't think Disney will go that route. Anyway, I do think you made a valid point, perhaps Star Wars really died when Episode I was released.

Why on earth would you think that Disney *wouldn't* want good writers to work on a franchise they just paid out the ass to acquire?  I have way more confidence in the team they've assembled (written by Michael Arndt, who wrote Toy Story 3, and directed by J.J. Abrams) than anything George Lucas would do with a new trilogy.  Disney has also approached Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote Empire and Jedi, to work on Episodes VIII and IX.  What more do you want, at this point?

That would be pretty amazing.

Basically everything Kirin Lemon said.

I think pretty much nobody was hoping Lucas would redeem himself with a new trilogy as it was clear he was neither willing nor capable.  At best people were hoping he would let it die (after making the original trilogy available on blu-ray in non-special edition form at least).

I was as skeptical as anybody when Disney acquired the rights but it's hard to argue against the team they've put together so far to make these movies (starting with JJ Abrams).

Abrams is one of my favorite directors so I feel confident saying I'll look forward to the new movies.

So, when did you originally watch Star Wars? Ever see the original version (1977)? Unlikely, since apparently Lucas refuses to give fans what they want

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/star-wars … 00465.html

"it’s actually impossible to buy an official copy of Star Wars as it was first released. Lucas doesn’t want you to see that version. Instead, he wants you to watch the continuously updated special editions—movies with added CGI, changed sound effects, and whole news scenes. Curators at the National Film Registry picked the 1977 version of Star Wars to preserve for history’s sake, but they still don’t have a copy in the registry. When they asked for a copy, Lucas refused, saying that he would no longer authorize the release of the original version."

Here's Lucas being a total hypocrite:

"In the late 1980s, Ted Turner bought studios like MGM and began releasing colorized versions of classic movies. The directors of those movies weren’t happy, and a group of movie makers came together and argued before Congress that people had the right to their cultural heritage, in the form of original versions of classic films. 'People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society'...Which raises the question of who truly owns something like Star Wars—a huge cultural phenomenon—once it is unleashed. Lucas addresses that in his speech too. 'American works of art belong to the American public; they are part of our cultural history,' he said.  "

I though Disney was working on giving us the original versions... is that true or not...?

After reading through this thread, I'm disappointed. The prequel trilogy is nowhere near as bad as people like to say. Yes, Attack of the Clones is fetid. Yes, Jar Jar was annoying. Sure, Lucas killed off some truly interesting second-tier characters way too quickly. And I even understand how inflated expectations can lead to an overwhelming sense of disappointment. But if anyone thinks any of these movies are the "worst ever" in any category, then they've clearly not seen too many truly terrible movies.

Star Wars is similar to Star Trek in the sense that it brought science fiction to people that don't read. Frederik Pohl had mentioned in his autobiography that when Star Trek came out in the 1960s, it didn't offer anything that hadn't already been done in science fiction, but suddenly exposed many of those ideas to millions of people. This is the strong point of Star Wars: its ability to affect millions of people. Whether positive or negative is not the issue; they are affected. The disadvantage of that strong point is that many people think that Star Wars (and even Star Trek) is representative of science fiction.

The best material in the Star Wars universe, based on the 60+ novels I've read, are those by Timothy Zahn. No matter what Disney does with the franchise, they will not provide stories that are superior to what Zahn has written, nor will his impact be diminished. If you want to experience the best of the best in Star Wars, you have to read the material by Zahn. Just like Star Trek brought science fiction to people that don't read, Zahn brought Star Wars to people that do read.

Glad you're not a doctor! "Hey, Ebola is great. It's brought hemorrhagic fever to numerous people..."
Sarcasm aside, I do kinda see what you're saying, but I disagree that "positive or negative is not the issue", and frankly, I think Gene Roddenberry would disagree with you as well:

“Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. […] If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.”

edit: I recently saw the new Star Trek movie (the one from 2009), I fail to see why people like it so much. It was mediocre at best. To be honest, "The Avengers", "Star Trek", "Guardians of the Galaxy", they all are more or less the same thing rehashed. I bet Star Wars will be the same. Lots of CGI, very little plot/character development, tons of explosions with more CGI...yadda yadda...

I did enjoy the Star Trek from 2009, but not the follow-up from last year. I don't agree that The Avengers, Star Trek and Guardians are the same thing. While they certainly have the standard Hollywood good-guys-almost-lose-but-miraculously-win storyline, each one is quite different, especially with respect to humor.

Having read 60+ Star Wars novels, I have little desire to see the new movies by Disney, since they have reclassified all those novels as "Legend" and thus not part of the proper Star Wars universe. I won't get to see Thrawn, Furgan, Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, and all the other characters I know so well.

This.

My friends were really into the novels, owning almost if not all of them, and I can see how them now becoming non-canon would be aggravating.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what my buddy was saying they closing in on some key points in the extended universe... only to have the slate wiped clean.

Anyone that has read a significant amount of the Expanded Universe novels knows a lot about the events following Return of the Jedi. Han and Leia are married and they have 3 kids. Luke eventually married the woman that wanted to kill him, Mara Jade, and they have a son named Ben. Thrawn is the only alien allowed to be a grand admiral in the Imperial Navy and he comes from Chiss, a planet in the Unknown Regions, which also harbors the hyperdrive equipped homeworld of the Yuuzhan Vong (but that is not revealed until much later). The Yuuzhan Vong are invisible to the force and they grow their weapons and spaceships; they abhor technology and especially despise the Jedi. Their hand weapons and armor are immune to lightsaber strikes and the jedi can't use the force to detect them. Their spaceships use black holes for shielding, which makes them very difficult to destroy. The Yuuzhan Vong eventually conquer Coruscant, but not before Borsk Fey'lya detonates a bomb that kills 25,000 of their warriors; a minor impact. One of the first diplomats sent to communicate with the Vong was sent back as a skeleton.

Chewbacca died early in the war with the Yuuzhan Vong and he did not go easily; it took the impact of a moon. I especially remember the eventual encounter of the Hutts with the Yuuzhan Vong. The Hutts tried to negotiate and make demands and it did not go well for them.

Those are some details I remember. I stopped following the Expanded Universe in 2003 or 2004, but by then I had read 60+ of the novels. I don't know how many there are total.

What's funny about this one is, despite not knowing about the expanded universe, I called this. My friend was like "they're killing someone off" and I was "it's gonna be Chewy" and I was right.

I've thought about this for a while and I came up with an analogy to explain why I have not watched the trailer for Episode VII and why I have no desire to see the movie.

       The reason why I have decided not to watch the trailer for the upcoming Star Wars movie or even to see the movie itself can be understood by analogy. Imagine for a moment that two new NFL teams will be created to play in the 2015 Super Bowl. The teams will have a few familiar players but will mostly consist of players new to the NFL. The created teams will not have played in the regular season and thus the fans will not have had the opportunity to develop any familiarity. Why would NFL fans even bother to watch the Super Bowl? The creation of two new teams invalidates the season; all the games and moments and plays the fans watched with a mixture of anger and delight are to come to nothing because no team that played during the season will be playing in the grand finale. This is basically the erasure of history and I imagine it would infuriate the fans. People that are indifferent to the NFL might have trouble understanding the problem.
    And thus this is the situation with the fictional world of Star Wars. The upcoming movie is not following the story set forth in the Expanded Universe novels; the previously authorized sequence of events following Return of the Jedi is being erased, or I should say – has been erased. This is no different than the NFL erasing a season of play and creating two brand new teams to play in a Super Bowl.
    The erasure is not 100% actual since one can still read the Star Wars novels or an NFL fan could still watch previously played games. The continuity, though, is what’s being meddled with – molded – into something new that does not follow what has been set forth. The disruption of continuity affects only those that have taken part in it, so a newcomer to Star Wars would not suspect anything is amiss, nor would a person indifferent to the NFL feel cheated.

I'm not sure your analogy works for one reason: the EU stuff was never canon. It was always speculative, it didn't always fit with other things in the EU and it changed and grew over time and, although there has been great EU stuff and some are obviously very attached to it, there was never any reason to think this wouldn't happen. So your NFL analogy only works if what is being washed over is maybe fantasy leagues rather than the actual games. In which case, you'd probably be wondering why people are so attached to them while the rest of your country only knows the actual games that they saw.

The new movies were never, ever going to follow the EU. And there was no reason to expect them to. There have been nods to the EU and there will be more, I'm sure. But it's an extra and it is separated as the EU for a reason. Authorised does not mean canon and it hasn't throughout the history of Star Wars. I'm sure the prequels nullified some EU stuff at the time. Although I think many of us would be happy to see the prequels themselves erased...

But as you say, you can still read EU novels and there will no doubt be many more. It doesn't cease to exist.

Yeah I'm pretty sure Lucasfilm released a statement clarifying that the "EU" and the movies have their own separate canon.

I read the first EU novel trilogy (the one by Timothy Zahn), and it was entertaining at the time, but I don't want it or any of the dozens of other extra stories written by any number of different authors interfering with the work of some talented filmmakers on the new trilogy.

You know, I know I'm going to sound like an ass, but I really hope the new movie is good just so your analogy becomes complete and utter crap. I know you spent a lot of time on it trying to make it sound profound... but it's definitely overcooked.

Also, can the new movie be worse than the prequel trilogy? Not everything done before the sale to Disney was pure gold. Hell, Lucas could crap out a literal turd and people would eat it up. There was something really wrong with that even though people did start losing faith in him before the sale.

I seem to recall reading in like... Star Wars Insider or whatever the pre-internet Star Wars news source was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when that from the very beginning with Timothy Zahn's stuff that other authors were being allowed to play with the Star Wars world, but they would never be actual canon.  That's stuck with me since I was a kid, and I really don't care at all that we're going to get entirely new stories vs. EU stuff (which was always kind of a mixed bag depending on the author anyway).

I read the Shadows of the Empire book back in the day and really enjoyed it. Even have a few figures based on it.

Shadows of the Empire I'm not sure what they'll do with... I recall that being set apart as actually counting as canon.  My memory is a bit hazy (and I detached myself a lot from Star Wars after the prequels so I know way less than I used to).

I've never read anything indicating that the EU was separate. In fact, the EU has to be consistent with the original trilogy. That is a stipulation that the authors had to follow, starting with Timothy Zahn in the early 1990s. The fact that Episode VII does not have to be consistent with the EU means that the EU is essentially being erased.