Always in motion is the future

I've spent a bit of time wandering the Internet this morning, and I've picked up a couple of useful tidbits about the future of Star Wars. This is an important topic to me, since for Star Wars to live as a product, there always has to be something real and tangible to look forward to. And by real and tangible, I mean screen product; video games and EU novels aren't going to do it. The Clone Wars is an acceptable stop-gap for now. There are a lot of stories to be told about the two-and-a-half years between Geonosis and Mustafar, and although we saw some nice battle sequences from this period in Clones and Sith, there is a lot more to tell. Granted, I would have preferred a live action, and one that was a little less kid-friendly, but since the current show is helping my daughter become a more enthusiastic fan of the Saga, I officially have no complaints.

The scuttlebutt I read today had to do with the coming live-action series, which is set in the much more promising time of the years between the Clone Wars and Episode IV. There are a lot of characters here that I want to see more of, like every rebel general and leader shown in the movies, as well as some Imperials. Ackbar, Piett, Tarkin — there's a lot of ground to cover here, and I'm much more interested in the stories that will be told here than I am in the Clone Wars saga. 

Beware: Mild Spoilers Ahead

So the news is that production for the new series is starting to ramp up, which means that pretty soon the Lucasfilm PR machine will start posting tidbits on the website about what is to come. As I alluded in my previous post, the folks at Lucasfilm are masters at building up anticipation for new screen product. Far from faulting them for it, I'm actually counting on it. So I am officially beginning to follow posts about where they might be filming (current rumors include Czechoslovakia and the old Mos Espa set in Tunisia, but nothing has been confirmed), and which actors will be cast. Again, the current news here is the actor who played Captain Typho may have a role. I'm just fine with this as long as it doesn't involve his uncle, Captain Downer…er, Tanaka. I didn't like his character, and from what little I heard in interviews, liked the actor playing him even less.

The other rumor I encountered was that production was beginning on Episodes VII-IX of the Star Wars Saga. Now, while the post I read quoted "very reliable" (but safely anonymous) sources, I have to chalk this one up to fan boy wishful thinking. George has said he will not make any more films, and wants to devote himself to other projects. So far, this means Red Tails, the story of the Tuskegee airmen, which is long overdue for a big-screen treatment. I really think that George is content to let others mine the gold of the Star Wars universe for a time, both literally and figuratively, and concentrate on other projects, albeit at a leisurely pace.

But this got me thinking: if it were true, would we even want to see Episodes VII-IX? Granted, I have always wanted to see what Master Skywalker, General Solo and Premier Organa-Solo (or would it be Master Organa-Solo?) would look like. Of these, I am most intrigued by what Han would have become in the years after the fall of the Empire. Although originally not a fan of the character, I have lately been very intrigued by the journey that Han Solo undergoes in the original trilogy as originally released. I am very interested in what would become of him in later years. In my mind, I see a distinguished but still somewhat cynical figure with a greying goatee, but that's just me.

Next would be Leia; I have always wanted to see what she would look like as a Jedi, and have always wanted to know how her own Jedi education progressed. Oddly, the EU canon never got around to exploring that except in the most intangible, peripheral way (at least in the books that I read), which is another reason I don't like the EU. They are much more interested in portraying Leia as a galactic soccer mom who runs the New Republic on the side, which is decidedly not the direction Lucas intended for the character as laid out in Return of the Jedi. Of course, given the whole Jedi non-attachment doctrine he laid out in Clones, neither she nor Luke could ever have families anyway.

Finally, Luke, one of my favorite characters. I really don't need to see Mark Hamill as a wizened Yoda figure, since I can already see it in my head so clearly. It would be fun, but for me, actually a little redundant.

Which brings us to the main reason for this post: do we really need any more Star Wars films? The rabid fan boy in me is screaming "YES! OF COURSE!  WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING!" But given the Saga as a whole, are there any more stories that need to be told? We have seen the fall of Anakin Skywalker, and we have seen his redemption. Anything further would mean that one of the classic trilogy characters falls to the Dark Side in one way or another — a possibility I am vehemently against, dramatically  — or the drama would have to come from offspring. I do not need to see a movie about Jacen and Jaina Solo — I'm not even sure that they exist, outside of Timothy Zahn's imagination. I do not need to see the characters that made Star Wars work to begin with relegated to sidekick status in someone else's story; although seeing Luke in the New Hope Obi-Wan Kenobi role would be fun. And most especially, I do not need to see the characters become caricatures of their former selves, a la William Shatner's Kirk. 

So if there are to be new films, which I very much doubt, they need to be done for the right reasons, dramatically. They need to fit in with the existing movie canon. There needs to be a real reason to make them, and a real story to tell. If so, I'll be the happiest man on the planet. But I do not think these films need to be made, save for the fact that they would add to George's already abysmally deep pockets. 

I will be returning to work tomorrow, so this may be my last post for a time. I have enjoyed writing these posts immensely, and I very much hope I'm wrong, and that I will continue to be able to dabble in this world. But my time is about to come under normal, human constraints, rather than the extended vacation hours I've been enjoying, and I don't know what the fallout will be yet. Hopefully, I'll see you soon.