It seems like old news now that I'm finally blogging about this today, considering the news broke only 48 hours ago. But it is big news. BIG NEWS to us geeks. The Mouse bought the rights to Lucasfilm. And there's going to be three more Star Wars movies: Episode VII, VIII, and IX, the first slated for 2015 with the rest following every 2-3 years after.
I'm ecstatic about the news. Being both a Disney and a Star Wars freak, imagining the two together has always worked well in my mind. I rode Star Tours, the Star Wars themed ride at Disneyland, before I saw the movies in the 5th grade on VHS (DVD's hadn't been invented yet . . . that makes me feel old . . . ). And the very first journal entry I ever wrote when I was in elementary was over rumors that there were going to be three additional Star Wars movies, of course Episode I wasn't released until I was a senior in High School. I was that far ahead of the curve.
I'm one of those Geeks who's adopted the Thrawn trilogy as my Episode VII, VIII, and IX. What's the Thrawn Trilogy? It's Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy (Thrawn's the bad guy . . . an epic bad guy.)
And Heir to the Empire introduced us to what I believe is the most famous Star Wars expanded universe character Mara Jade. Her character later becomes Mara Jade Skywalker. Yes, she marries Luke, and they have a kid named Ben . . . if you don't know who they named him after . . . I'm not going to explain. She also has a dark past. Emperor Palpatine raised her.
And if you've read my blog post about the origin of the name Cerulean Jade, the musical duo I'm in, you'll learn Jade is me. Ever since reading Heir to the Empire in the 6th grade I've been obsessed with Mara Jade. She's an awesome character.
I highly recommend the book series. Till this day I stand by the fact that it's the best, well crafted, amazing 3 novels I've ever read. They're masterpieces.
And these books got me into reading. Before Heir I read Baby Sitters Club and Boxcar Children, but Heir to the Empire made me thirst for the written word.
So what will be in the new movies? What can we expect?
Everything now is speculation, but there are some hints our there. This last summer George Lucas met with Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher. Mark said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly online:
"Yeah, last August, he asked Carrie and I to have lunch with him and we
did. I thought he was going to talk about either his retirement or the Star Wars
TV series that I’ve heard about — which I don’t think we were going to
be involved in anyway, because that takes place between the prequels and
the ones we were in and, if Luke were in them, he’d be anywhere from a
toddler to a teenager so they’d get an age-appropriate actor — or the
3-D releases. So when he said, “We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,” I was just gobsmacked. “What? Are you nuts?!” [Laughs]
I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a
middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the
way it should be — and it’s great that people have fond memories, if
they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous
desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more
material. It’s one of those things: people either just don’t care for
it or are passionate about it. I guess that defines what cult movies are
all about."
Then Mark said on his twitter:
“Congratulations to George for today’s mega-deal! Can’t comment on Ep 7
before I have all the facts which are short supply right now —
Patience.”
Even he didn't know about Disney buying Lucasfilm, but I find it interesting that he and Carrie were told about episodes VII, VIII and IX just a few months ago, especially since Lucas stated he wasn't going to make another film.
It's also well established that George Lucas won't serve as more then creative consultant. He's given his story plans to Disney, but it appears that Lucas isn't writing the scripts, and he's not directing. So who is writing and directing? A lot of speculation out there, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's someone already in the Disney family (which now expands to Marvel, Pixar, The Muppets and any show on ABC), but they could bring someone new in. I'm curious, but I get the feeling it will be a while before we find out.
So will there be any material from the expanded Star Wars Universe used? From what I've read the story will be entirely new, and nothing from previously created expansions. (So no Mara Jade . . . ) but I've heard two different hints. I've heard that Luke Skywalker will be in it (that's the most consistent rumor.) In one thing I've read Episode VII takes place a few decades after Return of the Jedi. So does that mean between 20-30 years? I guess Luke will be between 47-57 years old? I don't know. Then I've also heard that Luke will be in his 30's-40's.
TheWrap interviewed Dale Pollock, the unauthorized biographer of Lucas. He claims he got to read the story outlines Lucas wrote and states:
“It was originally a 12-part saga. 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 3 movies.’”
It should be noted that 20th Century Fox owns 5 of the previous Star Wars movies till 2020, and owns A New Hope, episode IV, permanently. It will be interesting to see if Fox will ever let A New Hope go. I hope so.
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