The rumors of Harrison Ford's willingness to reprise his character of Han Solo gives more feelings of doomsday for the new Star Wars movie in 2015
It isn't because of Harrison Ford but rather the complications of such a statement could make.Hollywood LOVES dollar signs and the possibility of re-uniting the whole cast has got to have heads turning in the front office.
So how is Hollywood doing these days?
Not good.We're seeing more sequels and remakes than ever before in the industry and it all says one thing: Hollywood is out of ideas. Star Wars will be a hit no matter what Disney decides to do, heck even the prequels made money!
So everyone is calling for the original cast to return but I'm not sure that's the best idea.
Take Harrison Ford for example. In an ABC interview in 2010 he called Han Solo "boring" and "one-dimensional" Hey! Pop quiz: How many Star Wars functions (including one's Lucasfilm
approved) did Harrison Ford show up to since Return of the Jedi?
Ready for this?
One.
That's right.
It was a screening of Empire Strikes Back for a St Jude's fundraiser.
Other than that, Harrison doesn't care for the movies that much.
I
don't blame him. No actor wanted to be "type-cast" after such a
recognizable role. Look at what happened to Carrie Fisher and Mark
Hamill. Ford's made a career out of choosing great characters to
portray, I understand his desire to separate himself from the icon Han
Solo is. It makes sense.
So why the sudden change of heart? Cha-ching BAYBAY! I smell money!! Ford needs a hit to strengthen his muscle at the box office, which has been dormant over the years so it makes sense why he'd want to star in a blockbuster and get his name back out there to the studio big wigs.
But Disney holds the reigns now, don't you trust them/
It's no secret I despise Lucas because he despises the fans. Ruining the prequels, tampering with the originals and refusing to release the original versions on blu-ray have consistently instilled anger among the jaded fans.
But one thing can be said, Lucas isn't Hollywood. Over exposure in the theater has never been Star Wars problem and that's partially what makes it unique. I worry that Hollywood execs today only look at the bottom line than delivering a quality product to the fans.
What about the Avengers? Disney did an awesome job with it!
Yes they did. No question about that but we need to remember this is the comic book world of superheroes which is vastly different than sci-fi. At Fan Days in Dallas I told you what Robert England had to say about "sci-fi" fans being harder to please because they care so much about the story. There's truly no other fans like them.
The comic book world is full of reboots. Heck, every decade you can bet on it happening in the comics. So when you make a movie and keep the origins in tact, comic book fans are happy to watch any version you care to represent from then on.
Sci-fi fans not so much.
Let's say Disney does indeed bring back all the originals, wouldn't you be happy to see Harrison Ford back as Han Solo?Yeah! Me too! Just about as happy as you all were to see Indiana Jones 4 as well right?
Oh... no?
We loved seeing Indiana back on the big screen again, yes. Now forget the hokey vine-swinging, fridge-nuking, mutant-ants scenes that made the movie unbearable, just think about the overall story. Were you happy with it? What about the ending? Is that how you wanted Indy to go out? Married and happy? Or would you have been happier with him riding off into the sunset with his friends and father beside him.
I know I would've. If they ended the series back in '89 like that I'd be content. I think the same will be said if they bring back the original characters again. 70 year old Han Solo, followed by a 60 year old Hamill and Fisher isn't going to bring back the joy I had watching them in Return of the Jedi.
But let's say they do, then what happens? Whatever it is I hope it follows after the books in the expanded universe.
What is the Expanded Universe?
The EU is a set of stories approved by Lucas to tell the further adventures of Luke Skywalker and friends. At the time Lucas never thought he'd make any more so he let more creative minds take over and boy did they deliver.
I hate to be mean, but you're ignorant if you don't think Timothy Zahn fanned the flames of the aging franchise with his "Heir to the Empire" series. They were the #1 New York Times best seller and since then the books have cracked the top ten ever since. But it wasn't just the excellent stories that made it so interesting it was Lucasfilm's strict dedication for continuity among them which made them great.
These books delivered on every level. Sure there were some I could do without but as a whole they were magnificent! It'd be a shame if Disney decides to disrespect all the authors' hard work over the years and go their own direction instead. Like I said before, if 25 years of my life are thrown in the garbage by a Mousekteer I'll be done being a fan. Sure I'll watch the movies...when they come out on dvd.
But you know what? I should be happy they're in Disney's hands. Look how well they did with the last "sci-fi" film they made: John Carter
Oh yeah, nothing to worry about at all.
3 comments:
I feel like you're still lacking a little perspective. I'm gonna work from the bottom up. This new Holy Grail of the Star Wars saga being the EU (especially the novels) is ridiculous. Yes, I think that the Zahn novels are good, GOOD, not great, not the second coming, merely good, and that is the best example of EU prose I can think of. What stoked the fires of my fandom in the early 90's was the comic series Dark Empire, to me that edges out the Zahn books for film fodder. Anyway, everyone thinks that "oh, if they ruin the EU continuity everything is messed up for good" They did that before you know, remember Marvel's series of comics? The Han Solo corporate sector novels, the Lando books, the two totally different newspaper strips, the ewok movies, the droid and ewok cartoons, all of those to some degree or another have been swept under the rug or retconned by the books people feel should be untouchable. The prequels alone disregard much of what happens in the EU, there is no Jorus C'boath anywhere on screen in the prequels, there could have been, they worked in Aayla Secura, and even sorta mentioned Quinlan Voss. The point is, they have never been a strict slave to the EU, and it shouldn't start now. From the looks of it SW:TCW is doing it's best to try to bridge that gap with EU fans as much as possible, but if something comes through (especially from GL) it makes it in, period. EU be damned. And I'm OK with it. The novels and the comics had gotten so far out of hand, with these wildly un-star wars concepts that it really pissed me off as a fan to have to accept these events. Chewbacca dies and and a force neutral race invades the galaxy? To me this sounds just as corny as Jaxxxon, the Green Rabbit from the Marvel comics series. So as long as the films don't tread on the other filmed Star Wars adventures, or Clone Wars, I have nothing to really complain about.
Now, as for Harrison Ford, he may be "interested" in playing the role again, but I think anyone outside of Mark Hamill would get a cameo at best in a new SW film. The main reason I say this is the sequel films, and Disney's aim as a company on the whole is to skew *younger* not older. No kids are gonna want to see a bunch of old people running around shooting laser guns, I don't care how good the 3D is. Disney is banking on Star Wars to bring in little boys of the next few generations, and Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher are not the way to do that. Look at how many old people were in A New Hope, you got Obi-Wan, and Tarkin. That's it. Expect the same out of Episode 7-9. Mark Hamill for the throwback to the OT, maybe an old man for the villain, and everyone else is gonna be a fresh face.
And I don't think sci-fi fans are as discerning of an audience as some make them out to be. There are some crappy sci-fi shows that last far longer than I would have ever imagined. Not to mention Star Trek IV, V, Generations, and the one with the saggy skin people.
You failed to mention Tron: Legacy, which did pretty well at the box office, and was frankly an amazing film, that treated the original with respect while bringing it to the 21st century. If that is how Disney treats Star Wars, I'm over the moon with excitement then.
main point being: Don't be so doom and gloom! This can be exciting, if you let it.
I know most people don't think much of EU but others do and I'm in that group. Dark Empire was first but I think you're under-estimating the impact of Zahn's novels. At the time Dark Empire was the only other Star Wars story we had out there since the Ewok movies. The saga was fading until Zahn kicked it in the pants and drummed up interest once again.
New Jedi Order (Chewbacca's death and the alien Vong) is actually my favorite story in EU history. Have you read them all? It's a whole series of "Empire Strikes Back" The reason for Chewie's death was to show the readers how nobody's safe anymore in the story. Mark Hamill even recorded a commercial for the book which was awesome. But we disagree on the Clone Wars cartoon as well so I'll just agree to disagree.
Non-EU fans will love it whatever Disney decides to do. I know folks who won't accept anything to do with the prequels. That's where their fandom stopped. I respect that and don't bother forcing them to love the prequels. Folks can talk to me till they're blue in the face, but if the all the hard work from the authors and artist are thrown away, that's where my fandom will stop too.
Tron was good, but it wasn't the last thing they did. John Carter was. Disney didn't know how to market it and it was a disaster. Remember, I like the idea of him as a director and I have new hope it won't be Nolan, Abrams or Whedon so I'll be excited with whoever else they pick.
Who knows? Disney may surprise us all and reboot the entire story, because these days, everyone loves a reboot!
I've made peace with it either way. It'll be nice to step away from Star Wars and do other things....like knitting a nice sweater or bird watching. :)
I will admit that I have not read most of the EU books since they switched publishers oh so many years ago. But I stopped because the quality of the writing was actually starting to take a nosedive back then, and would rather just push those stories aside as if they didn't exist at all. I still read the comics, though, and those got worse too, but since they were bite sized chunks, I could hold out longer.
I have a feeling, and this is pure speculation, is that they will find a workaround to where the new Disney stories will fit in a snug little piece of the timeline, and simply not refer to anything EU, so that while not necessarily contradicting it, it won't acknowledge it either. And just as you had cameos by Aayla Secure, maybe there would be some sort of room for a cameo of an EU character of some sort. I mean Lucasfilm has a person dedicated solely to the continuity aspect of the saga in Leland Chee. I highly doubt that they will wipe it all away in one stroke, but you do need to be prepared for minor (and maybe major) details to be retconned, or just taken as a "certain point of view". Besides, the books make a good deal of money, so cutting off that arm of the merchandising empire would be a really, really stupid move from a financial standpoint.
Now, I'm curious as to what your problems with the Clone Wars series are exactly, but before I do I will concede these points:
1. Yes, a lot of the time the writing is a bit simplistic.
2. Does contradict certain aspects of EU.
I think the Clone Wars is a fantastic series, and it feels every bit (and more so) like Star Wars that the old Ewok specials, and 80's animated stuff did, that I know you and I both liked as kids. The storylines are actually a little more mature than those for sure, but that heart is still there. Are there some episodes that make me cringe, sure, some are even boring (the Onderon arc) but the nuggets of star wars goodness in there are far too precious to miss out on. Did you see the latest episode, the one where the young Jedi seek out their crystals? Pure Star Wars adventure!
The bottom line, is that I really think it would be a shame for any of us Old School fans to shun the franchise, especially now. Disney has actually done right by their aquisitions, and it's a bit unfair to call the game over when it never even had the chance to be played.
Plus, who would I talk Star Wars with?
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