Is The STAR WARS Television Series Dead?

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: WENN

For about five years now, George Lucas and his team at Lucasfilm have been really trying to develop a television series that takes place in the "Star Wars" universe in the time between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope". Reportedly this show would have featured characters and locations not seen any of the prior "Star Wars" films, video games, television series, television specials or mountains of merchandise.

I use the words, "would have", in the paragraph above because it now looks as if this potential television series is being put into a permanent 'holding pattern', possibly grounded and shoved off into a hanger never to be heard from again.

Ever since the series was first announced way back in 2005 there have been rumors about potential cast members, scripts, and even that the series was in production. Of course, as soon as any of these rumors would start to circulate around, Lucas, or one of his staff, would be quick to dismiss them as nothing more than Internet spread fallacies.

Now, Lucas has come forward to tell the fans that indeed there are scripts, some casting did take place last year, and production could start right away. Only one problem. The film maker has no clue how to produce the show with the limit budget that is allocated for it.

At a recent screening of "The Empire Strikes Back" in Chicago, the film maker told the crowd in attendance that the show was 'shelved' until he could figure out how to make it work stating,"The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don't know how to do them.

"They literally are Star Wars, only we're going to have to try to do them (at) a tenth (of) the cost. And it's a huge challenge, (a) lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be."

Translation: "We really want to use a lot of really cool looking CGI effects that are so dazzling, that you will have to watch each episode over-and-over again to see everything we throw in."

To me the answer here is simple. Way back in the seventies, Lucas didn't have the kind of resources that he has today, yet he was able to produce one of the best, if not the best, science fiction movie of all-time ..... "Star Wars". The effects were simple, effective, and for the most part, not all too expensive.

If the series is to be made, the film maker is going to have to do it 'old school' with cheaper effects, actual 'real world' shooting locations, and stronger character driven stories.

High end special effects and make up have been the killer of more than one sci fi television series, namely the original "Battlestar Galactica", which had huge ratings, and "Planet of the Apes", which did not.

Unless Lucas changes his way of thinking, the same could be said about "Star Wars", and it never even made it on the air ....... well, not yet anyway.

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New STAR WARS TV And Movie Series To Be UNLEASHED?

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: CVG

It seems that the live-action "Star Wars" television series has been in 'development hell' from the moment it was first announced way back in 2005. Depending on who you talk to, there are either scripts ready to go, or still being written, casting has already begun, or is set to begin sometime soon. In other words, news on the series is sketchy at best.

The last words to come out of the mouth of George Lucas on the subject stated that the project was on hold while the producers tried to figure out how to produce a "Star Wars" quality series on a limited budget, well, a limited budget in the Lucasfilm universe anyway.

Everyone involved has been very tight-lipped about any proposed ideas for either characters or stories for these new "Star Wars" based episodes. The only thing known for sure is that the series will take place in the time between the events seen in "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope", and will involve characters on the fringe of the SW universe.

A new hint on what we may be able to expect from the series has come from LucasArts executive producer Haden Blackman, who believes elements from the popular video game, "The Force Unleashed" will have a lot to do with storyline development, "I hope so, we're already seeing it reach out into publishing with comic books and novels that are taking into account stories we've created and characters we've created," he told Andy Robinson of the CVG website. "Hopefully some day we see these characters on big or little screen."

We're dealing in a period of time that has largely been unexplored by anything," he said. "Force Unleashed was the first major story we set in that time period. I think we surprised a lot of fans with that story because we showed the formation of the Rebel Alliance and introduce the concept of the dark secret apprentice".

Since it has been said over-and-over-again by the folks at Lucasfilm, that no mainstream characters will make it into the proposed television series, it can only be assumed that like Darth Vader and the Jedi, any "Force Unleashed" inspired references will probably come in the form of being mentioned in conversation or somehow the events from the game will effect the lives of the characters involved in some way.

In other words, don't expect to see Vader and his apprentice, "Starkiller", showing up in any episodes to make a fashion statement.

Though it has been stated that the "Star Wars" TV series may make it to the small screen as early as 2011, I would estimate that it will actually be 2012 or 2013 before this one gets rolling.

Oh, and as far as "The Force Unleashed" making it into any new "Star Wars" movies, I haven't heard any plans for "Episode 3.25", ".50" or ".75" so I don't see that ever happening.

The again, if there's money to be made........who knows?

See Also: Darth Vader Had Emotional Problems ...... Ya Think? / An Idea That Is Way Overdue - Star Wars Themed Lingerie! / Spaceballs (1987)(MGM) / Lucas Begins Casting The Star Wars TV Series / Hey! Remember Mark, The Yoda Puppet Costs More Than You Do! / Can You Believe Someone Dropped $10,000 On Star Wars Collectibles?!! / EE Exclusive Star Wars Holiday Edition Jawas Action Figures / Darth Vader Invades Japan / Star Wars R2-D2 Interactive Astromech Droid / Star Wars Exclusive Ecliptic Evader TIE Fighter With Hobbie / Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge Of The Sith Trailer / Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)(Warner Bros) /Star Wars: The Clone Wars - What Are The Clone Wars? / Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Designing A New Galaxy /Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lucas And Filoni Talk About The Film / Interview - Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca Speaks!) / Famous People Talk About Star Wars / Mark Hamill - 1978 Star Wars Press Conference / Carrie Fisher – Lunch With Monsters At A Chinese Restaurant / Star Wars - The Missing Pieces / Peter Cushing – The Good Man Behind Evil Characters / Star Wars Production Notes: R2-D2 (Artoo-Detoo) / Star Wars Production Notes: The Sandcrawler / Star Wars Production Notes: The Landspeeder / Star Wars 'Where Science Meets Imagination' Exhibit