Disney buying Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion

[Buster's Uncle]

And yet they are not.  Lucas is not the boss of me, and he can claim the sky is green and I won't believe that, either.

[Unorthodox]

Technically, it's Leland Chee who's the expert these days.  (lucasfilm exec in charge of the Holocron/continuity)

[Buster's Uncle]

And I REALLY don't care what HE says.

I'm struggling to not launch into a drinking the kool-aid lecture.  Can we talk about the movies?

What would you propose if you couldn't do Thrawn or any of that stuff?

[Unorthodox]

Kool-aid?  I'm just telling it like it actually is.  The Radio Drama is as much canon as the movie.  It contains the original script IN IT'S ENTIRETY, not cut down to make a 2 hour movie. 

(Jedi radio drama you can make arguments for it being a little questionable due to how it came about, and Empire's really didn't add anything of consequence.)

Realistically, they probably COULDN'T do the Thrawn stuff. 

You can't recast the roles and, well, we can't use the original actors.  (though, really, Han, and especially Leia are more secondary to the Thrawn series and Hamill could work)

So, you're looking at Skywalker kids, or entirely unrelated new people. 

Honestly...

I hate to say it, but if ANYTHING is in need of a reset...START THE HELL OVER.  Do 1>9 properly.  Look at the Trek reset.  We've dumped the Lucas dead weight, lets do it right. 

Since that won't happen, we either need to go sideways with new heroes no one has touched on, or far enough out to ignore everything else.  Neither are as appealing an option, IMO, however. 

[Buster's Uncle]

I refuse to look at the Trek reset.  It didn't make sense and it wasn't a good movie taken on its own merits.  I couldn't keep track of which bald Romulan was in charge.  I didn't like any of the protagonists.  It was not good.


Now, other than that, we seem to be aproaching an accord.  But starting over is not going to work - that's the Greedo shot first thinking no one likes. 

I think I've identified what works about SW when it's working - they just have to keep that in mind and do something new.  Adventure.

[Unorthodox]

Fine, then take the batman reset of late.  Haven't seen spidey. 

By setting VII sufficiently out, you would essentially be doing a series reset ANYWAY, just without fudging the old stuff.  If they want VII to be a continuation of Luke, I say do a reset from the get go.  Otherwise, reset by doing VII 100 years in the future or something.  Maybe just a long time ago, not a Long, long time ago.   

[Buster's Uncle]

I'd say go for a thousand years - still easy enough to keep a powerful force-user like Luke alive about a million different ways - and have the galaxy not so much in ruins, but fragmented.  Make the mission to reunite.  I don't know why they need their 'Frodo' or what the nature of the ring is, but easy enough to make some fun adventure.  The best respect I would hope to see done various levels of cannon is to find a way to not contradict them.

As as comic book fan, as well as a Trek one, I'm sick of reboots 20 years ago.


Are you still feeling rotten today?  I am.  Just a little headachey, but all these tech problems are keeping me cross...

[Unorthodox]

I'm don't have one of my dangerously high fevers today, so I'm "better".  Stuck at work, though, hard to get back after the halloween vacation. 

The problem is with setting up a suitable villain.  Something most the EU lacks as well.  (and I don't want insert bad guy here resurrected comic style)

A New Hope worked because of Vader.  Plain and simple.  And the Nazi troopers. 

You NEED a Ming for this adventure style to work.  That's what made Thrawn work.  Empire general with a significant military backing still thwarting the new republic. 

It ALL rides on them figuring out a menacing villain. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes.  Absolutely, it does.  You've put your finger on a crucial, central issue.  The villain doesn't have to be midnight-black with fangs dripping acid, which the admirable Thrawn definitely was not, be he has to be formidable and interesting.  I sorta touched on that about the Emperor in Jedi.

We need a hero.  And he has to have someone worthy to fight.

[Buster's Uncle]

...And as I said before, Star Wars is really the same as Indiana Jones; it's all about a fun style of thrilling adventure.  As long as it's a trill-ride, it's good.  Get away from that and take it too seriously, and pure phail...

(In that spirit, I've only seen Crystal Skull peacemeal, but it strikes me that flying saucer people wasn't what was wrong with it.  Whadda you think?)

[Unorthodox]

Indy 4? 

Here's what I thought.  http://www.anunorthodoxhalloween.com/?p=34

Spoilers ahoy.

I am an unabashed Indiana Jones fan. And, as spoken of earlier, Temple of Doom was my favorite among them. After seeing Crystal Skull, Temple of Doom is in no threat of being replaced. In fact, I’ld go so far as to say Crystal Skull is my least favorite of Jones movies.

That is not to say it is bad. Just, that where the previous films are held as the epitome of action movies, Crystal Skull falls to a level more closely resembling recent competition.

There are 2 distinct areas I think that Crystal Skull falls a little behind the former Jones movies.

First, the villains.

Raiders even gives us the great Beloq. The image of him holding up the idol and maniacally laughing as the Hovitos chase Jones through the jungle is a villain at his best.

Temple of Doom gave us Mola Ram. Let’s face it. It’s hard to top a picture of evil than that of Mola Ram holding up the beating heart of a poor sap being lowered into a pit of lava.

Crusade left us with a lot of villains, but none that truly have a great moment of villainy. At the least, we are presented with the eternal icon of evil in the hordes of Nazis.

Crystal Skull gives us Irina Spalko, the Russian super agent. Cold and calculating, never once losing her cool in a given situation, she is on the cusp of being a real badass. Quite arguably, the villain with the most potential of any of the Jones movies yet. Somehow, she never quite achieves that, and never gets her moment of high villainy, something sorely lacking. I would have loved to see her triumphently standing over the defeated heros in villainous glory. But, it was not to be. The rest of the villains are faceless soldiers we are told are evil Russians. While fitting to the film’s story, they are just not as iconic an evil as the Nazis.

The second area Crystal Skull falls flat, is in the ancient traps and puzzles.

Or, rather, lack thereof.

In Raiders, we got the whole “stay out of the light”, floor traps firing poison darts, pits, boulders, snakes…

Temple of Doom, we got the whole “WE. ARE. GOING. TO. DIE!” room of spikes.

Crusades had the Breath of God, Word of God, and the Leap from the Lions Mouth. Not to mention choosing poorly.

Crystal Skull…well…um…there was some quicksand. Completely unrelated to the quest/temple/anything. At one point, you see Dr Jones scanning the floor looking for clues/traps/something. I was SURE Mutt would trigger something accidentally there…nope. Nothing there to trigger. There wasn’t even the satisfaction of watching them struggle to figure out the clues to open a door, as all the figuring has already happened. We’re just carrying out the motions.

So, there is the disappointments.

It’s an enjoyable film in it’s own right. Indy seems to have wisened with age, and become a more wily fighter in the process. Seems to hold his own a bit better than previous iterations at the fisticuffs. Yet, is not quite as limber at some of the acrobatics. Mutt has potential. It’s nice to see Marion.

I see a lot of complaining about the CGI in reviews. As with I am Legend, I really don’t think there’s much to complain about. Doesn’t look perfect, doesn’t look BAD. I honestly don’t get what people expect from effects these days…

If you like Indiana Jones, and adventure films such as Sahara, National Treasure, etc, it’s sure worth a viewing. For me, it just doesn’t quite live up to the former ones. And that may well be due to my having them on too high a pedestal.

Now, as for Halloween potential. There wasn’t a whole lot to draw on here. The Mayan were pretty cool, but not quite as memorable as the Hovitos. The rest of it was pretty standard from a Halloween prop point of view.

[Buster's Uncle]

Yeah, the Russians as villains struck me as a logical sign of the times it was set in - the 50s, not the 30's anymore - and the only strong impression I got from it was that it just wasn't as good.

-You know, BA and I like to kick around the idea of someday having good enough computer tech to recast  movies.  (We call it the "Blade Runner Technology" because the first thing we'd like to try is recasting Blade Runner with Bogey and Bacall and the usual suspects from film noir.  We think it would just underline the brilliance of the movie by not actually changing it.  -Also, I just really want to see a young Lauren Bacall slinking up Rachel.)  For Temple of Doom, we'd replace Kate Capshaw with Charisma Carpenter...  Any opinion about that?

[Buster's Uncle]

Harrison Ford says he is open to another ‘Star Wars’ film
By Mike Krumboltz | Movie Talk – 7 hours ago...


Harrison Ford as Han Solo in 'Star Wars' (Photo from Lucas Film)For all those who hope the upcoming "Star Wars" movies are more "original trilogy" than "prequels" -- there is hope: Harrison Ford, who played the scruffy-looking nerferder Han Solo in the original films, will consider reprising his role, according to Entertainment Weekly.
 
The magazine spoke to a "highly placed source," who said, "Harrison is open to the idea of doing the movie and he's upbeat about it." The mystery source "close to the just-announced 'Star Wars' sequel" went on to explain that Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) are equally enthusiastic about the possibilities.
 
It's been 29 years since Ford last played the lovable scoundrel. According to legend, the actor very much wanted his character to be killed off in "Return of the Jedi." However, George Lucas ixnayed the idea. In a 2010 interview with ABC News, Ford said, "I thought he should have died in the last one to give it some bottom... George didn't think there was any future in dead Han toys."
 
Ford today (Photo: Getty)As near as we can tell, no script has been written and no director picked for the untitled Episode 7. According to Dale Pollack, who wrote a biography of Lucas and saw early treatments for Episodes 7, 8, and 9 several years ago, the treatments centered around Skywalker in his 30s or early 40s. "It was originally a 12-part saga," Pollock told the Wrap. "The three most exciting stories were 7, 8, and 9. They had propulsive action, really interesting new worlds, new characters. I remember thinking, 'I want to see these three movies.'"
 
Ford's publicist had no comment on EW's report. However, if the possibility of Solo making a return in "Episode 7" has you nerding out at light speed, check out Full Scale Falcon. The creators are building a full size replica of the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. No, it won't actually fly but that doesn't make it any less awesome.

http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/harrison-ford-says-open-another-star-wars-film-185829069.html

This is probably whole-cloth bullcrap, IMO...

[Buster's Uncle]

'Little Miss Sunshine' Screenwriter Michael Arndt to Pen 'Star Wars:Episode VII'
By Liza Foreman | The Wrap – Fri, Nov 9, 2012 9:17 PM EST.. .


Michael Arndt, who won an Academy Award for "Little Miss Sunshine," has been hired to write the screenplay for "Star Wars: Episode VII," Lucasfilm announced on its  Star Wars website on Friday. 
 


The news follows reports the '"Toy Story 3" scribe was the leading contender for the job and had turned in a 50-page treatment for the seventh installment in the epic franchise.
 
The film is slated to be released in 2015 and will launch a new trilogy under Disney, which acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion on Oct. 30.
 
"Star Wars" films have earned a total of $4.4 billion at the box office worldwide.
 
George Lucas is serving as a creative consultant on the films, with Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairwoman of Lucasfilm, executive producing.   
 
Arndt won the Oscar for best original screenplay in 2006 for  "Little Miss Sunshine" and was nominated for best adapted screenplay for writing "Toy Story 3" (2010). He is a co-writer with Simon Beaufoy on "Hunger Games: Catching Fire," which is scheduled for released in 2013.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/little-miss-sunshine-screenwriter-michael-arndt-pen-star-014232513.html

[Unorthodox]

Um....

ok?   

I haven't seen little miss sunshine, but Toy Story 3 isn't exactly winning me over any, and "Hunger Games" is a adaptation, not an original, so it hardly counts.