I. J. Thompson said:

Agreed. The older Star Wars movies have already been remade more then once with updated technology. It's not like we are watching old Star Wars movies with ancient, poor visuals. They are pretty up-to-date as is.

Well, if you try to extend a story beyond its natural conclusion you often get things like that Robin Hood movie with Sean Connery that ends with Marion poisoning Robin and herself to end the fighting, Galactica 1980, the second season of Buck Rodgers in the 25th century and the Yuuzhan Vong. And no one want that.

Star Wars is the story of how the Rebellion defeated the Empire. Once they have done that, everyone lives happily ever after.

ErikB said:

Okay, good point. But I would have to remind you that, as of the end of RotJ, the Rebellion hadn't won the GCW.

The Galactic Empire is still there, and their military is still larger, better equipped, better funded, and better trained than the rebels' counterparts. There's still a lot of story to tell. Killing the Emperor and/or Vader was similar to Operation: Vengeance where the US Navy assassinated Isoroku Yamamoto in Apr 1943. Their 'greatest leader' was felled, but the war went on for more than 2 more years.

There's still lots more story to tell.

-WJL

ErikB said:

You also get The Lord of the Rings.

… and technically, you get The Empire Strikes Back.

Sturn said:

Yeah, these movies are kind of an exception in that they keep getting updated (usually for the worse). Anyway, I believe a full remake is highly unlikely because of that.

Unlike the story of Robin Hood, the story of Star Wars is not open to interpretation. And while Disney is gaining the rights to those stories, it does not mean they will remake the original movies…yet. I think some time would have to pass before a great many fans of those movies would stand for something like that. They would risk ostracizing many of the very people they would want to see those movies. Now if we were talking about Fox, then they would have no problem driving a property into dust just to make a buck, I'm sure.

I think we will see some new characters in a story taking place after the Rebellion. Maybe the story will include elements drawn from the EU, like the return of an Empire remnant or a Lost Tribe of the Sith, or maybe it will be an original idea. Or maybe it will be a script adapted to the Star Wars genre. We will have to wait and see. I choose to look forward to it no matter what.

My opinion may change upon viewing but it is a waste of energy bemoaning something which could turn out quite enjoyable. My disappointment in the prequel trilogy stems directly from myself as I had created what I thought was the way it should have been from the snippets I had gleaned over the years before hand. Things like upon hearing of the Clone Wars I thought the Jedi fought against the Clones, not with them. Ultimately losing thus allowing the Empire to be formed. And that the clones were the stormtroopers and that they were created by the Human Empire in its war against alien races. And so on. But that, as I said, was all me.

Part of the problem of doing the "clean up" of the Empire is that it isn't very "epic" and they will want to have an "epic " storyline.

I have to say, it confuses me that the Clone Wars cartoon has reached… what? 4 Series? Yet the entire war, according to the films at least, only seemed to last about 3 years. If they take the "normal" approach, that a series covers the events of one year, we are already overrunning at this point…

borithan said:

That means nothing. The Korean War lasted only 3 years but MASH was on the air for 11 years.

mouthymerc said:

Yep, 11 years, with 11 Thanksgivings and Christmases, but only 3 or 4 changes to the shows year. Henry's 3 seasons were just one year of the war (50-51) and Potter's 8 seasons covered the other 2 years (51-53).

As near as I can tell, the Clone Wars isn't doing 1 season to 1 year. The war is a big thing spread across a huge number of worlds. I'm surprised that it could start and end in such a short period of time.

ErikB said:

Disney was notorious for simply not being interested in such small market shares in the past. Marvel was always just the opposite… take what money was available when it doesn't need much oversight.

The new Marvel RPG is very much a PDF-allowed license, and I would hope that LFL, now being under Disney, will relax that ebook stricture - SW is one that I will get both dead tree and PDF if PDF is available, because it's one that I'll have players for through the years. (Then again, I ran WEG D6 SW just a couple years ago.)

With a remake for instance, you could give Stormtroopers camouflage.

Something like a loose Fallschirmjager jump smock worn over their armour perhaps.

ErikB said:

Why in all that is the Force would you even think of such a thing!? Yes let's redo and change the original Star Wars movies since they sucked so much and were such a grand failure. How about making all of the Stormtroopers march with the Nazi goose step? It's oh so important to redo the movies and make sure everyone gets the Nazis=Imperials reference this time around.

Sorry for the nerd rage. I started watching Star Wars at 8 years of age and just can't understand the desire to remake them when they've already been remade (new editions) over and over. Give it another generation and if I'm still living I could be on your side. Until then, let's have something new with new characters on the big screen. I still have hope for a live action series myself. Perhaps after Episode VII we could see a series erupt to fill in the gap before VIII? (or would it be IIX?). Let's don't waste time on a remake.

Sturn said:

Hell no. Because they were so good! This is approaching from the angle that Star Wars is a new myth story thing right up there with King Arthur or Robin Hood or The Second World War or The Three Musketeers or Agincourt or Vimy Ridge or Sherlock Holmes or all the rest. A story that really resonates with people, and that they want to hear again and again. You don't want to hear about what Sherlock Holmes did after he stopped solving crimes with Watson. You want to hear about their adventures living in a flat with Mrs. Hudson.

(Perhaps the more pragmatic reason is that the alternative story backgrounds - the Clone Wars and the Yhitzack Vong for instance, have never grabbed me anything like as much as the original Rebels vs. The Empire story. And I don't see any real reason why anything would. There isn't much I like more than original Star Wars.)

I guess in the end though I want to see actual Stormtroopers shooting at actual Rebels again (and actual TIE fighters dogfighting actual X-Wings with actual Star Destroyers in the background), and how that is going to happen if they don't do remakes I don't know.

Let's hope they keep the Imperial Remnant and continue with the committee meetings they so loved in TPM - and add in a few starship battles with Rogue squadron, Luke trying to reinstate the Jedi Order - perhaps even on Yavin IV, that would be cool. We don't need Thrawn, but Pellaeon would be cool. We don't need the Lost Tribe at all. The Vong were fun, but pointless really. Same with the insects in Nest Wars - what a waste of paper. I would like the new films to be new, and only take EU into consideration where it serves the new films.

Remakes of the old ones will come, someday, I'm sure. But not for a while, and I don't really think its needed - yet. I mean, I still get a thrill while watching Metropolis, and that's an almost 90 years old flick. A remake wouldn't do it justice, but who knows, someday someone probably will (if you ignore the animated Metropolis).

I remain hopefully optimistic.

If it turns out that, against all odds, Episode VII sucks, then it's little sweat off my back in the first place and I am mature enough to know how to deal with disappointment.

For the setting, it's most definitely going to be in the future relative to the story of ROTJ. The very appellation "Episode VII" connotes a continuation from Episode VI. It wouldn't make sense for them to call something Episode VII, and then have it be a remake.

And y'know, I'd be fine if they didn't touch the majority of the EU and made a film set 40+ years after the OT.

**SPOILER First off, they wouldn't have a 65-year-old Mara Jade because she dies before she gets that old. END SPOILER**

Second, they wouldn't have to acknowledge anything from the EU, but the Star Wars films (including Special Edition releases of ANH) are FULL of elements from the "better parts" of the EU (the Zahn novels in particular stand out, and not just the Heir to the Empire trilogy). So whatever time frame in which they set the film, I don't expect them to wipe decades of Star Wars lore off the map. Will certain "canon" elements be nullified? Most certainly. And I could generate a list of elements in the EU with which I am displeased and would love to see wiped off the slate of Star Wars canon.

But whatever "retconning" needs to happen, and whatever canon is or is not left intact, it's no sweat off my back. I have enjoyed the majority of novels that I've read, and nothing can change that. If a new book or film gets made that I don't like, it doesn't make me suddenly hate everything I've read or watched beforehand or nullify the enjoyment I got from them at the time of watching or reading.

And guys…whether these works are de-canonized or not, none of it actually happened . I feel kinda stupid saying it, but I feel like it needs to be said (I'm not targeting anyone on the boards specifically…I think I'm just tired of all the Facebook fanboy whining and I have hit the "mute" button more times than I would have liked). It's important to keep in mind that these are people telling their interpretations of a fictional story. Uncle George made a cool story, got lots of people excited about it, and the story exploded from there. Lucas' own interpretations of his story have received much flak from fans of his previous work, and it would be unrealistic to expect a new movie to please 100% of fans around the world. But it's still just another part of the story, able to interpret its predecessors in whatever light suits it the best.

Yeah, I'd hate for a movie's story to be fettered by a bunch of crappy novels. But that's not to say that the writers of said movie can't use the parts of those novels that they deem appropriate to tell a good story.

In other words, I have no idea what to expect and all this rambling has probably wasted a lot of my time

PS: Alternate Universe campaigns are IMHO the most fun in general, so even if much of the EU is wiped clean, GMs will now have LOTS of material for creating their own alternate Star Wars universe!

If VII sucks, expect a reboot of the whole franchise in about 7 years.

If VII rocks, expect VII to follow in 2-4 years.