George Lucas really hit the goldmine when he released a movie called Star Wars back in 1978, a movie everyone was sure would fail. Based on the residuals, toy licensing, spin-offs, Lucas could never make another movie again, and he’d still die a rich man. He’s rereleased the original trilogy countless times. Even when I was a kid, I was frustrated, here’s the original, oh wait, here it is remastered to video, oh wait here it is remastered and with all new special scenes the way Mr. Lucas wanted them, oh wait here it is again with Hayden Christensen in it, oh wait here it is on DVD, oh wait here it is on DVD with the ORIGINAL release, and the new stuff.
With this preface, I’m pleased to say something new is hitting the silverscreen produced by Lucas. A CGI-animated Star Wars Adventure based off the 25 episode series that aired on Cartoon Network a couple years back. It’s a risk, its non-traditional, and the idea behind reminds me of some of the Star Wars spin-off video games. Stories that happen in-between the trilogies.
The film is being directed by Dave Filoni, and the only original actors showing up are Anthony Daniels (C3-PO) and Matthew Wood (General Grievous). The film is about Anakin and Ob-Wan holding together the republic, being split by war. With Lucas guiding the story, Filoni is translating his vision. “George is our guide. He’s the creator of the Star Wars universe, so we couldn’t have a better mentor,” asserts director Dave Filoni
Star Wars has always been a film that adults and kids can enjoy, in animated film, I have no doubt, it will give the fever to an entirely new generation of Star Trek hating Skywalker fans. The film opens August 15th.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Cartoon Network Clone Wars series. It was great storytelling by Grenndy Tartakovsky (who took the animation style and narrative style he used in his Samurai Jack series and applied it to the Clone Wars) and it was under the guidance of Lucas. I think as long as George is only guiding, this could work. I don’t know what happened to that guy, but those prequels were all such a letdown. And, lest we forget, the best of the original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, was directed by Irvin Kershner, not Lucas. Maybe that’s the key to successful Star Wars movies now: minimal Lucas involvement.
Now I’ll get off my soapbox.
you’re totally right Justin, George Lucas is much better in a producing capacity then directing. Look at what he’s directed:
THX-1138, American Graffiti (one of my favorite movies actually), Star Wars, then the Star Wars Prequels. His greatest contribution to film is founding Industrial Light & Magic. Lucas is a great businessman, and a visionary. But, directing…his vision is much better in the hands of someone else!