Re: Star Wars Episode VII
I really would like the next trilogy to go off and "be its own man", without too much reference to the old films. Reasons? Many they are!
Firstly, nearly all of the essential character arcs are done and dusted. Darth Vader- dead. Yoda- dead. Obi wan- dead. The Emperor- dead. The Deathstars V1/2 -destroyed. The Empire - defeated ( but perhaps relegated policing duties again).
Luke, Leia, and Han ? Well into a happy retirement I hope. Where they should stay. Why?
Because I don't want to see them again. Their struggles are over. How many dynamic and interesting stories revolve around people who should be drawing their pensions in our universe ?
I'd not really be fascinated with Luke redoing the "Obi wan story" ie taking on an apprentise, threat of loosing them to the "Darkside" Its been done already. Twice. One win ,one lose (or possibly a redemtive draw). We know the outcomes. Do something more interesting and less morally clear. Let the Jedi re emerge as something else, afterall it didn't work so well for them the first time. A new order. A new code. A hybrid of Empire and Republic facing an external threat, not an internal struggle of government, which is what made the prequels so desparately dull as stories."STAR WARS" should be exactly that.
Forget all the stuff written since the originals and do something better instead. Don't go all mystical and super human with the Force, keep it simpler, less showy and more threatening. The idea somebody could choke you by thinking it was much more intimidating than death by lightning bolts. And more into wishfullfilment. Sometimes less is definitely more. More personally frightening anyway.
And please, please, please, less, less, less expensive and too complicated CGI everything.
And the ships. Give us the starships and vehicles we all loved so much form the originals. The reason our generation bought into STAR WARS was the designs of the craft looked recognisably like weapons of war, not the arty farty "futurised" spacey junk that plagued the prequels. There is hardly a ship from any of them that I was at all interested in, unlike the originals ,nearly all of which had recognisable counterparts in todays world. Name me anything as iconic as the Falcon or an X wing or Star Destroyers that generations of SW fans still venerate today ,and even none sci fi fans recognise instantly
The good news is that a galatic civil war tends to leave a government strapped for cash and lots of old hardware floating around. An era of austerity after decades of civil war and military overspending. The cost of the Death Stars has bankrupted the galatic banks and governments. rebuilding the galaxy ain't as easy as it was. We'd all recognise any story set against that kind of reality !
And for godsake retire those two droids to the places where they belong. In minor roles such as a court, or garage workshop.
As much as I deeply revere the original trilogy its true success came from being a great human story, the journey of Luke to becoming a Jedi knight and how that struggle changed those surrounding him and eventually the fate of how a galaxy is governed . Pure popcorn as a story but it was done so WELL.
They remain unique because they contain all the recognisable elements and "forces" of our world but beautifully reimagined without any specific relation to ours. They were strange and wonderfull without being stupidly futuristc ,which is where the prequels failed so remarkable so.
Keep the budget and story tight. Keep it simple, keep it human and it should work. Good luck and really, let the Force be with Lucasfilm , ILM (and Disney) with this one.
