The problem is they don't even think they've failed. They think their audience is the ones who have failed them for not "understanding the message" that the leaders at Disney want us to believe
This. Ideology has taken root in the industry so that to them, no matter what they are right and failure can only be attributed to us being "wrong." Even as they lose millions and millions, they'll never concede it was them that made a mistake.
I don't actually think they care if they fail at this point. They want to dictate culture and they are going to pay billions to force it down our throat just like the WEF and BlackRock etc
1) Timothy Zahn said that if Lucasfilm had called him to write the Sequel Trilogy, he would have made the eight hour drive in six hours (the passes are a nightmare, so that's excellent time). The man is still passionate about Star Wars, and it was amazing to see! 2) When writing the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, Zahn did the smart thing of making it Star Trek in the Star Wars universe. It was familiar, it was amazing, but it also was something new and different without throwing out everything we knew and loved.
I can only dream that whoever takes over for KK knows about Zahn, gives him a call, decanonizes Ep 7-9, and gives him the reins. I'll pre-order tickets 5 years in advance. His books are so good. He respects the legacy characters and creates new and interesting characters like Mara Jade and all the new kids without character assassinating the old ones.
Ironically, JJ, when he made the Kelvin timeline, did the "seemed smart at the time" thing of making his movies Star Wars in the Star Trek universe. And look at what resulted from that. JJ is the anti-Zahn
I remember as a teenager reading Heir To The Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command and making it head canon official sequels to the original trilogy. About as perfect as it gets. Leia also gets to have her Force use moments. Mara Jade as a key female character. Thrawn. Joruus Cbaoth. A three dimensional competent Imperial character in Pellaeon. The concept of Force neutralising lifeforms like the ysalamiri. Could go on.
No matter who Lucasfilm replaces her with, They're most likely think the exact same as Kathleen and therefore would just be same garbage, different seller. Smokey's impersonation of Lucasfilm is spot-on.
Yeah the problem is that it's not just Disney, it's Hollywood that's rotten. Ditching people like KK and her cabal is the right thing to do, but where's the replacement talent?
i strongly beleive Disney bought Star Wars (with ESG money) for the sole purpose of destroying it. given the common origin of Larry Fink and Bob Iger, along as so many other cultural vandals in hellyweird, let say it's pretty on par for the course to kill a messianic figure the like of Luke ...
the problem is much deeper than kathleen Kennedy. the fact that she still retains her position after destroying the most profitable IP in history tells me that management generally at Disney is hopelessly out of touch. if a man was in charge of lucasfilm he'd have been fired after the second film.
If the right people were in power there, the first film and all its mistakes would not have even happened. We can blame KK , but make no mistake, she was _allowed_ to mismanage it.
If they fired everyone, and shelved it for five years. Then started from scratch with people who actually cared and were skilled. They could save it. But Disney will never do that.
No, the only thing that might work is if someone 'George Lucas' uses his old Jedi Mind Trick on us! (Memory) ERASED! 'These are't the Sequels you were asking for! (US : These aren't the Sequels we were asking for'!)🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕
They would have to create new franchises in the spirit of imagination and highest quality like George did back in the day, when Lucasfilm meant something. The old franchises cannot be saved now.
I think someone said Lucas was entitled to 30% or so of the merchandising sales for his characters, so naturally they set out to destroy them all so they wouldn't have to pay him.
Not to mention that, even if KK is removed, you would still have to take into account the amount of nut jobs that she hired under her, and the nut jobs they hired under them. KK has quite literally infected the Lucasfilm company to the point that even if she’s gone it will still be a trainwreck. The only way to make an actual change in the company would take a 3 year purge and start "cleaning house" Go down the list and start firing and dropping these idiots left and right.
My theory: KK is actually an AI. Consider: her movies have all been variations on a single theme, of a younger female generation taking over from the old, generally male, often forcibly because the kids somehow know better. These movies are all in long-established franchises where very little genuinely new material needs to be created from scratch. They have remarkably detailed visuals, with a degree of precision in their effects that previous entries struggled to match. They get the details of established settings, rules, and characters not just wrong, but so jarringly uncanny-valley that you wonder what you're really watching. And when called on it, she appears to have no idea what went wrong, and has no plan other than the next iteration of her scriptwriting formula. I suppose it's possible that KK _may_ be human and is either shockingly incompetent or using The Mouse to run some kind of elaborate money-laundering scheme (I'd say "or both", but you kind of need a degree of competence to successfully launder money), but for my part, I think all the signs are there: her tenure at Disney is the sort of performance I'd expect if they'd hired a ChatGPT prototype.
The thing that's truly infuriating is this was the easiest slam dunk for Disney. There are hundreds (thousands?) of Star Wars EU novels. All they had to do was have a team review them, find out the, lets say 50 best selling books, read them and see how feasible they would be to turn into movies. They already had stories ready to go and instead they tossed them in the trash and gave us this.
As a fan I do not want to see existing books turned into movies. That’s lame and would not be exciting to wait for. I want new stories worthy of the name Star Wars (which we have not got yet post-RotJ).
@@namelessjedi2242 agreed. Also a lot of those books would not adapt well to the big screen and it wouldn't have been feasible for some of those that could be. A lot of people cite the Thrawn Trilogy, but that's set 5 years after RotJ not 30+. It's not like you could change that. Luke's still learning what it means to be a Jedi, hence his falling under C'Baoth's influence for a while, and Leia's pregnant. Carrie Fisher in her 50s wasn't going to convince with that! You'd have had to recast all the leads, which would have alienated a huge number of your potential audience.
YES. They don't have to be shot for shot- the superhero genre does this all the time, adapting classic stories like Infinity War or Civil War. It would use a solid (and proven) backbone but give lots of room for fresh creativity.
*"There are hundreds (thousands?) of Star Wars EU novels."* LOL. Uh...no. There are around 250 total books published between 1978 and 2013. Around 1/3 of those are kids' and YA books. Around 1/10 are film novelizations and retellings / expansions of things from the films. So, being generous, there are around 175 wholly original EU novels. That's a far cry from "hundreds" of novels.
In my opinion, the 90s was the best time to be a Star Wars fan. The Expanded Universe was running strong, now-legendary characters were actively emerging, Lucasarts crafted some of the most iconic video games to bear the brand, and to close off that decade with the undeniable fever-pitch anticipation for The Phantom Menace was insane. The video games in particular really amped up the IP - X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Dark Forces, Shadows of the Empire, and Rogue Squadron, among others.
Lucas Arts didn't make a bad game for years! And they made like 30 games over that period ... and of vastly different genre. We will never have such a Golden Aga eve again!
2000-2007 was HOT We had so many toys and comics and technology got to the point where games were amazing. From Starfighter to Battlefront to Force unleashed
While the prequels themselves were underwhelming to bad for many fans, the side-content it sparked was simply excellent. The 2000s had the best SW games for both story and gameplay.
And you can just bet they're going to have a huge going-away party for Kennedy. Her co-workers will really have to struggle to find words to describe what she's accomplished.
I would've been mad at Disney trying (and failing) to remake Heir to the Empire, but at this point I just don't care. Disney will continue to fail, I will continue to ignore it. I have my books, my comics, my games from the EU, along with my 6 movies. They're not all great, but they're mine.
Critical Drinker: "My interest in Ahsoka is approximately as much as The Critical Doggo right now." Even as a Clone Wars and Rebels fan, I'm 100% with you on this one. I'm so *exhausted* from this dead franchise.
It really hasn’t all been bad, especially with the animated projects. I feel like ahsoka is gonna be good just cause it’s made by the guy who made those
Because it didn't used to be. But at some point it became feminine, and now it's transitioning to feminist (the transition is almost complete) , a very different and far less pleasant thing.
I've mentioned this before but go back and look at the various Star Wars commercials that were being pushed in 2015 and thereabouts (around the time of the release of TFA). Almost all of them focused on little girls. I found that odd even then, little did I know...
@@ladydustin7811 I was enjoying their animals-on-adventure shows on television, the catchy songs of the Mickey Mouse Club, and trippy experiments like Fantasia and The Black Hole (1979) which represented their dark foray into sci-fi. This being back when they were filmmakers, not activists.
People don’t like when you explain how much better off they would be if they had done absolutely nothing. No bad films, sit quietly and don’t insult the fans. Nothing.
Disney, and KK replacement, NEED to come out immediately and De-Cannonize everything KK touched, admit they were wrong, and start over again. I good to spare Andor. Not as tainted.
As you guys were talking about creating the hunger for star wars i remember being on the opening day for the force awakens, and the cinema was so full i and my family were forced to take a seat in the front row completely to the right side of the screen, no other place were left when we were making reservation. I think it is the perfect example of the hunger making success.
I've been arguing the same about costumes in videogames where in the past 5 years there's been a noticeable pattern, especially in shooters, it no longer feels like you're wearing a uniform/set of clothes that are part of the world, but instead just a bunch of disjointed sets of cosplay that completely distract from the setting you play in. I guess it was cool back then, but it really becomes tropey and tiresome when EVERY single game starts doing it.
Similar to Halo. The older games were a plausible, militaristic sci fi, and a character like Master Chief was masterfully designed, an instantly recognisable design. Then they ruined that aesthetic and Spartans now look like power rangers.
@@RJALEXANDER777 Halo 3 might be the peak of believable Sci fi soldier. Advanced enough to look like a design from the future, simple enough to look like a design that could actually be built. As they've gotten more overly complex they undermine the plausibility that it could actually be made and function as armor.
@@MediumRareOpinionsWhile Halo 3 looked incredible for its time and still holds up today (and for most, the best gameplay), i'd have to go with Reach's design. Visual detail that basically makes it a next-gen game on the 360, gritty art direction giving a realistic aesthetic that doesn't dip into the uncanny, and best of all, a level of customisation unmatched to this day. Old Bungie was just too good for this world, their lowest lows still look like the Himalayas compared to who knows what 343 has attempted.
I don’t think anything can save Lucasfilm, apart from George Lucas buying it back and summarily de-canonizing everything Disney made. The brand has squandered every ounce of goodwill its audience had. Lucasfilm is now nearly-universally reviled. It’s remarkable how sublimely badly the Star Wars brand was handled. When I saw that Lizzo and Jack Black episode without context, I swore that it was a parody.
I saw a photo and legit thought it was something from Saturday Night Live, yes. Then when I looked up whatever Lizzo is it suddenly made sense, and I gave myself a firm nod of reassurance for my choice to not continue watching any Star Wars television after the end of Mando season 2.
I don't know. Kennedy and her cronies getting purged while Iger and company go on an apology tour to fans would go a long way towards getting people to give them one last chance. The problem with that is that in the unlikely event that they would swallow their pride enough to do that, they would more than likely keep screwing up anyway. Disney has just been bombing everything lately. They can't even get the MCU right anymore.
Almost every single star wars film/show from disney minus rogue one and maybe the first/ part of the 2nd season of the Mandalorian has come across as a over budgeted extended snl star wars parody skit with good special effects. It is as if a multi billionaire bought star wars and handed it over bored teenage kids and said do what you want wiith it.
@@dony2852 This is all Iger’s doing, though. He was the one who agreed to let Kennedy lead Lucasfilm and allowed her trainwreck to continue. He’s a huge part of the problem. His leadership sucks. Just because he’s not the previous Bob doesn’t mean he’s the right guy for the job. He has horribly mismanaged everything from the start.
@@stevescruby1343I think the issue I'd partly that he IS the "previous Bob". he caused every single problem right now. Youre right, for real, an Iger apology would be worth less than a spent dime
They would have to do a hard stop for at least five years. Lucas would have to publicly apologize and denounce Disney material as non canon. Then actually do what George originally planned.
Anything can be saved the question is do they want to save it? Lucasfilm and Disney have continued to double down on stupid and have little regard for entertaining the audiences and continue to push their own ideals and agenda into a Sci-Fi series.
The answer is simple but they won't do it. For starters fire almost every executive at lucasfilm and Disney. Fire KK, Bob Iger and most of the HR department and writing staff. Then hire new people are good at their job and actually like star wars. Make the entire Disney trilogy non-canon and make the EU canon again. And fire anyone who creates a project that is remotely Woke.
USC alum here! That assembly edit you’re talking about is in our vault and is still used in classes! (It’s full color btw). It’s… AMAZING. I wish everybody could see it. You’ll understand why Alan Ladd Jr thought it was going to suck. You can tell everything is made out of wood and the actors are all like “whisper screaming”. They sound like kids playing cops and robbers that don’t want to get caught. And Vader chews the scenery so hard that you can’t help but lol.
Do what WB did with Batman. After Batman and Robin came out, they took a break to go back to the drawing board. Hired an up-and-coming director and made one of the best trilogy of films in the 21st century
@@ItsaKindOfMagic86 Ford is pretty open about his relatively businesslike attitude towards filmmaking but Hamill seemed to care a lot about Luke, he fought with the director about how Luke was handled in TLJ and low-key mocked the movie before its release. You've also got to remember that the actors all signed on when they only had the script for TFA, which wasn't yet totally obvious about Disney's interest in destroying their characters.
I'm genuinely surprised Shadows of the Empire wasn't turned into something now, at least didn't inspire it? I read the novel and it's a great idea looking at the corporate and crime syndicate side of Star Wars during the time of the Empire. I haven't seen Andor but maybe it inspired that?
Shelving it for several years and then bringing it back with a story that doesnt have stormtroopers, or skywalkers, or a villain in a mask and then remembering why the fans liked it in the first place (it wasnt because of girlboss) will work After the entire executive team has been revolved out for one that actually wants to provide entertainment not edutainment
At that point, you might as well make it a new IP. Which wouldn't be a bad thing at all; in fact, it becomes yours instead of George's. After all, is _Star Wars_ a _Flash Gordon_ property?
@@Donald_the_Potholer Forgoing the obvious that *they* should be making new IPs since their use of them doesnt match legacy whatsoever; you just tapped into something Ive been lowkey thinking for years - Let them kill superman. Wait a period, bring "him" back in his classic form but under a new name Powerman etc, boom make millions and now he's yours
I remember when Shadows Of The Empire marketing campaign launched... the hype built by Lucasarts at the time was masterful! The hype was real! And the final product made the wait totally worth it! There were toys, a videogame for PC and the N64 (which was far from perfect but it was fun AF), of course the book and the OST. Those were the good times to be a Star Wars fan. Today is embarrassing.
“If they’re smart…” There’s the rub. They are DESPERATE for cash generation. The pressure will be CONSTANT to do ANYTHING to bring in revenue. Their best bet is to close the shop, lay everyone off and sell off whatever’s not bolted to the floor to bring in some money. By the time the market is right again for content AI should be far along enough to make new stories with a faithful recreation of Luke that won’t look out of place.
I actually like rebels for the most part. I really like the characters. So the female centric I can forgive because that's all that is left of phoenix squad. Zeb and Ezra are the others Edit: Sabine a mando teen who lost her way and grew into a competent warrior. She did get Saber training from kanan when she got the dark sabar (amazing scene btw) Hera: a leader who lost the love of her life. Became a leader in the new republic. Became a mother figure to Ezra and Sabine Ashoka don't really need to explain her to much. Because we have had alot more time with her.
Agreed, that trailer needs context for those that are judging it with girl boss trope. I could be wrong, Dave could have drank the coolaid - but I doubt it. I think it will be Rebels season 5. Girlboss or not, Dave should be able to show how the female characters should be written.
The only real characters are the couple, otherwise there's goofy brat, discount Worf, R2 at home and tumblr OC n°72. That Filoni's idea of good writing is saturday morning cartoons does not help, it really feels like the good parts of TCW were either a fluke or someone else's work, considering how much he screwed with everything that came after.
Yes, Lucasfilm CAN be saved. But the people who would need to make the tough decisions are the executives, and they won't do it. So Star Wars and Lucasfilm will die because the executives won't eat the crow, fire a bunch of people, and possibly quit themselves. As far as I'm concerned, they can ride that sinking ship straight to the bottom.
Agreed 😭 I hate saying this bc it USED to be a company that I loved & felt the love returned in kind. But it’s just become this unrecognizable soulless husk & at this point I just want it put out of its misery. I would LOVE to see things improved after some MAJOR changes but seeing as how they lack cognitive dissonance & refuse to accept & fix their mistakes, I highly doubt it. They’ve burned us too many times atp
Yeah, you would need a complete change of staff, especially the executives who okayed the BS, and the writers who wokified everything. If you want the fans to consider coming back. I don't think they would do it either.
LucasFilm/Star Wars can easily be saved. Get rid of Disney and the franchise will be fine. Erase this shitcanon like they erased the EU/Legends and go back to prior source material. There is so much legends content out there that would make great movies and shows. Or pick up characters and expand them like Maul before Episode 1 or do a Tarkin show about how he ruthlessly became the head of the Death Star. Hell do a whole show on the creation of the Death Star and the rebels learning about it then getting the plans. The opportunity is there, just get Disney out of the way first.
@@Lawrence_TalbotOr they could stop being creatively bankrupt and make something new. Explaining every single bowel movement that a recognizable character ever had is just the same low-risk brand recognition trash that we have now.
Ashoka seems like an organic continuation of Rebels. But my hope is not high that they won't wreck it. You are right about the costumes tho. They seem pulled off the costume shelf, not clothing that's regularly worn.
The main reason Lucas (according to interviews with him back in the 90s) waited so long as he was waiting for the tech to catch up to what he wanted to do. If he had the tech sooner, we would have seen more SW films in the 80s.
I agreee that Disney turned Star Wars and info a girl's brand but I wonder if Ghris Gore has seen Rebels. Ashoka, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren all teaming up to find Ezra and defeat Thrawn!!!! This is awesome! I disagree that the Ashoka trailer is more MSheU garbage because it's picking up the story where rebels ended.. This is straight from the imagination of Dave Filoni and I'm pretty excited about it. I am nervous because I don't trust Disney anymore, but I'm also excited because these are some of my favorite characters and don't give a crap if they happen to be boys or girls.
Exactly! Hera and Sabine are probably my favorite female Star Wars characters. Hera especially, she’s a great example of a strong motherly character. I don’t like the way she looks or sounds but I hope they don’t ruin her character
It's not only bouncing off of the Rebels ending, but they are adapting elements of the 90's Thrawn Book Trilogy as well. Please read it, it's amazing and reignited interest in Star Wars to the extent that George decided there was enough interest to make the prequels. The nice part is that Filoni is trying to add all these elements together to appeal to Book fans, Rebels Fans, and to introduce these characters to people who aren't familiar with either. I couldn't be more excited. The Ahsoka show looks fantastic.
This feels like what happened with Atari in 1983. They believe they could do no wrong, and shunning anyone who gives them even constructive criticism and labels it “toxic”. And only after everything has been nuked that they maybe start to realize, “what have we done?” But by that point it’s too little, too late.
Giving Ahsoka the Mary Sue treatment feels like a massive insult to who the character of Ahsoka is. She struggled throughout the clone wars, she has earned her place but no doubt she is still on her journey to somewhere or perhaps someone. We see at the end of rebels that she has truly abandoned the dichotomy of light and dark and simply followed the force. She is powerful no doubt but it lies in her humanity, compassion and wisdom earmed through hard battles and loss rather than her abilities in combat
Totally agreed! As much as Chris Gore loves Star Wars and EU, I don’t think he knows who Ahsoka is. Even tales of the Jedi shows that she totally isn’t a Mary Sue!
That's actually a really good point. I grew up in the 90s and DID consider Disney a girl/children's brand. I've got a little sister and I have a daughter so, for me, a lot of the time when I thought Disney, I would relate Disney princesses, or fond memories of childhood and the lion king or something, but never anything that related to my adult life. Then Disney plus came out. At first, I though of the app as a family friendly streaming option, with kids and girls shows. I didn't think I needed it because my daughter is grown, and she's obviously not into that stuff anymore. When I got the free trial, I was happy to find a lot of the stuff I used to/ loved. Gargoyles, Darkwing Duck, Star Wars, Marvel etc, so that image DID go away for me, for a bit, but its crept back in. Disney is a feminine brand, and as much as these companies will say that gendered things like that are for everyone anyway, they're just not appealing to men like myself. I've got nephews, and my daughter's male friends around me all the time. I can tell you 100% that NONE of them are hyper, or enthused even, about any of the recent Disney stuff, or even talk about upcoming stuff. My daughter also hasn't mentioned a Disney project, that I can remember, in a very long time. She's a HUGE star wars fan, but we really only talk about the older movies, or the books. I'm really not sure who Disney is trying to appeal to, but it seems they're appealing to very few.
Take someone like Kevin J Anderson who wrote so many of the extended universe books, have them write out an Avengers style expansive universe of interconnected movies, then hire people who can, without notes, tell you a dozen facts about the expanded universe to make them. Done.
You ever read fan fiction by the types of people that know everything about star wars? It's awful. Totally terrible. You need good writers who may not know a lot about star wars but they have to work alongside people who do know every step so they don't destroy it
@@chrispekel5709 I said KJA should write it, the fan boys should MAKE it. Even if it's just a consultation role with veto power. "No, that's not how hyper drive works. Can you imagine if you could do that? They'd have just destroyed the death star by hyperspacing an empty cruiser into it! Vetoed!"
Please... not KJA. This is the guy whose Jedi Academy trilogy was supposed to be the primary EU novel, but got supplanted by Timothy Zahn's trilogy. Who wrote some of the worst ongoing characters in the EU (Kyp Duron, Daala), and only had his story salvaged when Michael A Stackpole revisited the time period years later. And let us not forget, KJA is currently the primary writer for Dune, and he and Brian Herbert are doing a crummy job there, too.
@@dekardkain5469It should be made by people who are good at their job. People can't magically light a scene well, just because they know twelve things from the EU. That is as much of a qualification as having specific genitals is. Star Wars nerds should review the script, not make the movie. Maybe then we wouldn't have hyperspace and light speed mixed up all the time. In a movie that makes sense. That would be great.
Simple solution from a Star Wars fan, day one announcement: "We are no longer considering the Rian/Abrams trilogy canon and are reinstituting the Extended Universe that the novels created for decades" That would go a long way to restoring fan faith
What to do at this point? 1. Retire Star Wars films and TV for a decade - it will take that long. Exactly as Chris Gore said, in the meantime start developing books in a resurrected Star Wars expanded universe as it existed before Disney took over. Eventually, announce you are going to release a "reimagined" Star Wars film series. Say you are going to set it in the time after the original trilogy, draw on the old expanded universe and what you've developed since. Ignore everything Disney made under Kennedy. In other words "reimagine" it back to what it used to be, and airbrush all of what Disney have done out of existence. 2. In the meantime in film and TV, develop something entirely new in Sci Fi, get rid of all the old writers and hire new blood untainted by the current nonsense. Do the same with many of the failed execs as well - be ruthless. Try something based on say Larry Niven's 'Known Universe' books, or Harry Harrison's 'Stainless Steel Rat' books, or Isaac Asimov's I Robot series and adapt The Caves of Steel or The Naked Sun with detective Elijah Baley as the overarching hero. Or do with an old TV series what was done with Battlestar Galactica - say Blakes Seven, or Gerry Anderson's UFO. Whatever you do, stick as close to the original source as possible, and produce it for ordinary people who like Sci-Fi - ignore any ideological trends toward modern audiences entirely
nothing good will happen to it under its current owner and firing kk and replacing her team wont fix it, hollywood has woke mandates in place that scripts have to pass approval and it will take longer than a decade to get rid of the woke, since it has its tentacles in everything and people are still watching woke content and the media
Honestly, you slap the “Legends” (non-canon label on Episodes 7-9. You bury them next to the Christmas Special. You fire everybody with blue hair. You canonize the good expanded universe (Thrawn Trilogy), and create an animated show featuring the original 3. Come back after a brief hiatus with a new trilogy in the vein of the old Dark Horse books “Star Wars Legacy” featuring a newly formed Empire and a descendent of Solo/Skywalker as the lead. WRITTEN by Lawrence Kasdan - His name has been attached to the absolute best of Lucasfilm, and whenever he’s not involved (Prequels, Indy 4, Episodes 8&9), it is noticeable. Luke could still drop in as a ‘Force Ghost’, but his death would be purposely vague. Was he killed by a Sith? Or did he slip getting out of the shower? Nobody knows…
I like the way you think. Thrawn trilogy as an adult oriented animated show would be great, and there would be tons of stories and characters to pick and continue the story from there. I didn't pay much attention to John Ostrander's Legacy comic books when they were published, but i finally read them couple of years ago, and they were actually pretty good. You could definitely do something with that material provided you have competent writers.
In my personal opinion, YES, it can be saved. But it has to be a BRUTAL and PAINFUL process! Starting with FIRING EVERYONE IN THERE THATS INSANE WOKE!!!! Then making the dumb crap they’ve made NON CANNON anymore.
Casual audience, don't have a clue about old Expanded Universe. They can't erase Disney movies and shows now, it's just a fact. ----- Use old Republic period as a starring point. Fans love it and for average Joe it's easy to understand - "star wars but long before Skywalkers "
That will never happen lol they got their claws dug deeping in, they aint letting it go back to the fans, they resent all of us to spite us they will never give it back
Here’s what I would do. I would make an animated series in the style of clone wars, taking place between a new Hope and empire.. bringing fans characters and stories loved . You can tell the story from the novels of how Vader first met Luke. And learn what he was.. you can tell stories about Vader, dealing with the loss of his wife. You can tell the story of the bounty hunter and try to capture solo that they reference Empire strikes back. So many characters that can be put in some other stories like Hondo.. rebels crew. Howell Rex meets Luke.. tell the story of how Luke went from being a farm boy to somebody. It was able to stand toe to toe with Darth Vader in empire, at least for a short time. I would love to see Luke and Company going up against inquisitors.. watches the rebellion struggles against the empire. Hope he wins for Scotus would be attempting to help Luke with his training. And then, after a few seasons, you can time jump and give us a few more seasons between the empire return of the Jedi. You could even go and tell us a few more seasons right after return of the Jedi. Filling in a few more blanks and even help to Redcon. The terrible sequel trilogy.. and then I will go back in as controversial as this may sound. I would go back and do another special edition on all of the movies.. on the original trilogy I would only put back things like hand solo shooting first. I will move a couple of foolish things that. When they were released on DVD release them was the original theatrical version that many people want as a two disc set. Oh, but the sequel trilogy would have a major facelift. And repair what I could. Then I would do a new trilogy of the old republic. The acolytes and skeleton crew would never see the light of day. In fact, I would probably burn every copy so that it would never leak. I will start treating the fans a.k.a. customers with respect just like George Lucas in the characters deserve. I would also go back and finish the animated, clone wars the way it was supposed to be finished. Finishing all the partially done episodes. I’m finishing all the arts left and told. Like venturous story of redemption. And hell, Darth Maul escaped the Empire. After all who wouldn’t like to see Darth maul face off against Dooku and general grievous. Get to watch a little more of Anakin‘s decline into darkness. . I will also revise the Luke Skywalker series taking place at the Jedi. Giving us a chance to actually see Han Solo, princess Leia, Luke, and all the rest back together again one more time. .
The issue with trying to build anticipation today is the entire fandom has been anticipating and waiting for good Star Wars since Disney acquired it. If it goes away people will just be more exited for them to hand it off to someone else like everyone is hoping they do now. No one that was been though the destruction of the band of the last few years will be excited for another Disney star-wars project.
Whoever replaces her will be martyred and has to understand that it's a kamikaze mission going in. That's first. But I would do it. I'd take the check, reboot and recast (Han, Luke and Leia) with younger actors. Just like Battle Star Galactica did. Then I'd tell the stories according to the canon and extended universe. And I'd let fans boo me out of the offices to get it done. They'll appreciate it later but I'd be glad to go away with a fat check, knowing my work may not be appreciated immediately. That's what it's going to take in my opinion.
Finding actors to play the original trilogy protagonists (Han, Luke, Leia) would be a real issue since all 3 with their actors are very iconic, the replacements might not live up to the comparisons.
@@mr.sinjin-smyth Sebastian Stan has been approved by Mark Hamil to play Luke Skywalker for YEARS! We already had a Han Solo replacement cast from the Solo movie. Lando as well. All we really need to do is cast Leia. This is an easy fix. Very doable. We can get a hot red head to paly Mara Jade (Scarlett Johanson or someone of the caliber). I'd cast Cal Cestis and bring him in at some point. I'm getting excited just thinking about the possibilities. I'd put together a board of consultants that consists of the top social media Star Wars influencers as counsel, like Star Wars Theory. And I'd filter trickle out leaks for thoughts on major decisions through those platforms, to have the public vote through their apparatus. Multiple ways of gathering feedback, directly from the market, instead of sitting around a board room, full of Hollywood types, who are painfully out of touch. Yep...sure would. And I'd do it with just as much nerve and arrogance as Kathleen has displayed. And I would give two sh*ts! Id' right the ship and let the sequel fans boo me out the building.
@@blockwriters5728 Anthony Ingruder would make a more promising young Solo since he's been used as a young body double for Harrison Ford in Age of Adaline and Dial of Destiny. Many Star Wars fans have mentioned him before. Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover got mixed receptions for their roles and that Solo movie flopped hard. Sebastian Stan would definitely make a good successor to play Luke, so I guess Leia Organa and Mara Jade are the "BIG IFs", since Hollywood has been going overboard with the Mary Sue Boss Girls types and replacing any ginger with a POC these past 10 years.
@@mr.sinjin-smyth I just googled Anthony Ingruder. I'm not mad at that. I think Solo had a poor reception based on the movie that preceded it. I think the castings were solid though. But I'm flexible. See how easy this is though? And all the source material is there to reference story lines, etc. You gotta be an ass hat to screw this up. I'm beginning to think Kathy Kennedy was undermining the franchise on purpose for some reason. You really gotta be a moron to mess this up. AND George Lucas is alive for reference..WTF?!!!
Chris Gore is correct - there was a time when SW and Star Trek lay fallow, and any interest in the IP was maintained by hardcore fans. Then when the generation who'd seen the movies as children were now grown, it came roaring back. And to echo others here - Kennedy not having the OG actors back in one scene together was so wrong on so many levels, not the least of which that it indicated her total deafness and lack of understanding towards the fans and property. Yes, A Force Awakens made money but I bet half the audience walked out wishing they could get their money back.
I could fix and restore Lucasfilm in my first 3 directives as head of Lucasfilm: 1) Decanonise all Kennedyverse material. Not just consider it an alternative universe, but burn it and pretend it never existed. 2) Apologise to the fans and Gina Carano. 3) Announce a proper canon sequel trilogy with a male protagonist that follows the hero's journey to rebuild the primary target audience using George Lucas' treatments and worldbuilding. Then get Favreau to direct and Kasdan to assist with the dialogue. Mark Hamill is the only OT cameo we'd really need. EU and deepfakes are not off limits if they're needed and done well enough. A competition would also be run in the Star Wars community to determine who knows the most detail of the lore and the winners would be able to see the movies prior to release in order to point out any mistakes so we don't get any lore-breaking garbage like Holdo manouevers or Leia's mother dying at childbirth despite her having memories of her.
The true question is "does it matter at this point?" Everyone calls it culture "war" but the truth is all of this is one sided destruction... What did they lose? Yeah...exactly... What did we lose? Everything ...we love and value...
it only doesnt matter if we give up and dont bother making it easier for the other side to keep on taking 'W's is our own fault for not standing our ground and not gatekeeping
You know what would be a great start. Release an ultimate star wars box set that would have the original 3 movies with the viewer able to select which version it the movie they want to watch, like the alien quadrilogy. The '77 the '80 the' 90s version with the new footage. Have the commentaries.
Two of the most difficult things to recover are trust and a good reputation. But there's no sign that they even realize what the issues are. The longer this nonsense pervades, the more difficult it will become. Good luck at this point.
I still think that Shadows of the Empire would have made an amazing in universe movie that introduces compelling characters, plot, and really fleshed out what happened in-between the original movies. Great book, Dash Rendar is still one of my favorite SW characters. For the life of me I can't figure out why they wouldn't want to use that IP, unless the author won't let anyone (which still doesn't make sense since it was licensed for a pretty good video game). Just take the book, have a screenwriter make it into a two-part movie (or even another trilogy, if there's enough material). Cast an actor like Gonzalo Valenzuela (he might need a dialect coach to really nail the American/Midwest accent, but he definitely looks the part, has that same kind of charm, and is the right age). Boom, you have your movie.
The only way to salvage LucasFilm is wholesale purging of the company top to bottom in a manner that would give even Stalin pause. At that point it might be a good idea to start filling key roles with known hardcore Star Wars/Indiana Jones fans or give these fans a Commissar level of power to check and approve of the choices and projects being made. I will also suggest moving the company away from its current location and finding a more remote and rural location to change employment pools. To save the company will cost millions if not a billion plus at this point.
If they wanted a girl boss for the sequel trilogy, it would have been easy to make everyone happy. They could have written a story in which Leia had trained and learned to use the force after the events of Return of the Jedi. Vader had even said that she had it in her. Carrie Fisher RIP was obviously still alive when they started making the Sequel Trilogy. But that wasn't good enough for KK, because that doesn't tear down the heroes of the past that we know and love.
Honestly, they have trashed the heart of the franchise. Just making it go away, it simpily won't help anything. They have thoughly debased the whole thing. They MUST fix what they've done, or the whole damn thing is over.
Little Platoon pointed it out brilliantly by saying that between the Trilogies there was this huge fanbase that kept the Expanded Universe going because there was a love of the movies. And none of that exists post-Sequel.
I watched the movie Blood Diamond yesterday and the law of supply and demand is totally lost on Disney. Like diamonds are extremely valuable but if you flood the market with diamonds it becomes worthless
The only way it can be saved is if they fire everybody involved, put the franchise on a shelf for 5-10 years, then come back and say that everything that Disney made before is non canon
So wished we’d gotten a proper Heir to the Empire adaptation. The lead characters in that series while not age appropriate (younger as it was pretty close to after RotJ), they could’ve massaged the timeline a bit to make it work. Or just flat recast. Then they’ve could’ve introduced all the kids from the solos. Mara Jade and Luke’s early interactions would’ve made for great on screen drama I feel as she initially was out to kill him as a final order from Palpatine as a emperors hand. Such a missed opportunity. Would’ve loved to see Joruus C’boath on screen and all the other cool ass shite from that series. Timothy Zahn even incorporated Prequel stuff which I feel the books really redeemed in the long run.
Why? GW's entire management team is just as bad if not worse than Kathleen Kennedy. The only difference it has is a fanbase that is so dedicated and autistic that they 3D print their own mini's and ignore the stupid bullshit GW has pushed in the last few decades.
I’m genuinely considering rewriting the entire Sequel Trilogy and setting up a fundraising campaign to start filming my own sequel trilogy (or perhaps make it a series instead).
Finding actors to play the original trilogy protagonists (Han, Luke, Leia) would be a real issue since Ford is too old and does not care about Solo, Hamill still cares but is also too old and Fisher is RIP. Using De-aging or Deepfake is an option but just seems disingenuous.
@@The-X-Territory Someone mentioned this to me in another comment to I'll just repeat what I realized from the replay... Anthony Ingruder would make a more promising young Solo since he's been used as a young body double for Harrison Ford in Age of Adaline and Dial of Destiny. Many Star Wars fans have mentioned him before. Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover got mixed receptions for their roles and that 2018 Solo movie flopped hard. Sebastian Stan would definitely make a good successor to play Luke, so I guess Leia Organa and Mara Jade are the "BIG IFs", since Hollywood has been going overboard with the Mary Sue Boss Girls types and replacing any ginger with a POC these past 10 years.
0:14 If I were in charge of Lucasfilm I'd pull a "Victoria Principal" in the opening scene of a new Star Wars movie: an older Luke Skywalker waking from sleep, saying "I had a VERY terrible nightmare!" It worked for "Dallas" episoe 223! 😉
I was going to say maybe a really well written, well made Star Wars story could save Lucasfilm. But then I remembered that as good as Picard S3 was, I don't feel like it saved Star Trek. It was a good apology and farewell to the real fans, but I am no more interested in the rest of what they are doing anymore than I am interested in Ahsoka or the Acolyte.
If it was down to me to fix it, I'd assess everything in the original EU and Disney EU, pick what worked and remove what didn't and aim to combine the two in the long run whether that be new versions or just bringing over the old versions. I'd pause for a few years and only bringing out games and books, and I'd aim for a movie based around KOTOR as it's huge with fans and it's far enough away that the Disney stuff won't interfere, once a couple of those have come out and brought back the Star Wars hype, I'd then start looking after doing actual sequels whether that be with new actors replacing the originals or using CGI if convincing enough. I'd also look into bringing film/TV show versions of fan favourite characters and stories like Dash Rendar and Kyle Katarn. Long story short, the main goal would be pleasing the fans pre-Disney because if you please them, more will follow.
I’ll give Ahsoka one chance since her character evolved so perfectly In Clone Wars. If any female character deserves to badass right now it’s her; but at the same time I am keeping my overall expectations at a minimum.
I always thought she was a good character. Disney is paying the price now though because I'm feeling like I spent all the second chances I had for them, I ain't watching Asoka. How many interesting characters that someone else made are they going to wheel out to try and bait us in, and how stupid do we have to be to keep falling for it? Obi Wan was a contender for my favorite Star Wars character ever, then they made a show about him. A character being good in the past means _nothing_ as a basis of faith for Disney star wars to do them justice.
Fixing Star Wars: The scene opens to a pitch black screen. Sound bites from the sequel trilogy are playing in the background and fading away. The camera pulls away from Luke's face and his eyes pop open in a startle. He looks around and he's on the Melinium Falcon. Chewie is sitting there looking melancholy. Luke, Han, Chewie and possibly some new interesting characters are on their way to Liea's funeral. Luke looks at Chewie and says "I just had a terrible and confusing nightmare. I'm glad it was just a dream". John Williams kicks in and the opening crawl starts.
6:31 So officially the EU began around 1993 but there were a good deal of people that include the Star Wars Holiday Special in that gap. To which i reply "Okay neat, you do you." The holiday special was a special type of bad that Lucas refused to acknowledge as ever happening until a few years ago. Lucas built on his brand before during and after the prequel films even came out. Their was a "Power of the Force" series of toys, dozens of computer games, the unreleased and unfilmed "Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire" books and toys (It was a phenomenon a film marketing scheme w/o the film), as well as the successful re-release of the THX Special Editions around 1997 all were a means and method of keeping Star Wars in our minds and hearts while George worked on the prequel trilogy. Even after the prequel trilogy was released Star Wars just EXPLODED with approved books, games, toys, clothing, and various tchotchkes during releases and between the films. The thing that made it so successful was that it didn't curtail what fans enjoyed. If you liked the old stuff, books, games, toys, all of it were still being made. They didn't go back and say "None of the things Lucasfilm made before 'x' time didn't happen." This was Disney's first mistake. The destruction of the EU and the marketing of ONLY new trilogy products are what is cutting Disney off at the knees. By the FORCE it is not the only reason that they suck. It was just one of the first reasons that they suck. It also was one of the first reasons that I started disliking KK and it sort of ballooned from there.
I think the only chance they have at salvaging Lucasfilm is to bring George Lucas in in an official creative capacity and make it clear that the old star wars is back. Because theres no value in the brand right now and even if they actually DID fire KK and disney did a complete 180, the bridges have just been burnt, and no one will come back with assurances that those bridges have been rebuilt
Here's how you save Star Wars. 1) Let it rest for about a decade. Until Ewan McGregor is the right age to play the original trilogy version of Obi-Wan. 2) You spare no expense finding exactly the right set of actors to recast Han, Luke, and Leia. 3) You produce a short streaming series with these actors, making a nearly shot-for-shot remake of the original trilogy, to give old school fans a chance to get used to new actors in the roles before you try to do anything new with them, and giving new fans an introduction to the world and story before you make sequels. Ewan McGregor serves as the anchor to remind everyone that re-casting can be okay. 4) You produce a new Episode VII with these actors, set not too long after the original trilogy. One of the first things you do is retcon the existing sequel trilogy as being a vision Luke had of the future, of what will happen if he completely screws up his attempt to rebuild the Jedi order. 5) You use that to lead in to a new sequel trilogy based on the old expanded universe novels. Maybe with Ben Solo in place of some roughly equivalent character, to give some connection to Luke deliberately trying to do things differently and avoid the vision he had.
Kathleen Kennedy gets a lot of deserved blame, but getting rid of her is not enough. Dave Filoni is equally responsible and needs to go. Dave was doing yhe same thing as KK even when it was still owned by Lucas. He trampled on the EU (look up the clone wars multimedia project he destroyed, the 2000's version of Shadows of the Empire), threw other writers under the bus, filled SW with his pet characters he cant let go of, pushes female centril SW but cant write more than 3 bad stereotypes, and defied George's wishes. He has built up a series of lies to make it seem like he was his apprentice and the EU was always non canon to pad himself and his career. He is equally to blame.
Mission Impossible 9 was awesome!... Good simple action with ZERO preaching. Back in the days, this would have been an average typical action flick but now its like the best thing on big screen in a long time.
Heir to the Empire was a great series! The only thing is that Zahn's wroting style can be clunky at times and over explains stuff, but his characters and stories were on point and feel so classic Star Wars!
There is one chance of redemption for Lucas film; the dream cross fade. All of the last four movies were all a force dream from Rey, and she can use the knowledge gleaned from the dream to go through the events of the movies to try to save everyone, but her lack of skills means someone dies (Leia would be my suggestion) and she falls into a depression, thinking about how she knew what was going to happen, but she still couldn't stop it. They film writers could fix most of the mistakes they made, and even if the audience initially doesn't want to watch more crappy star wars, if they make this fixer movies good enough, then word of mouth and reputation WILL garner an audience of willing watchers. Now that that's been said, I'm going to watch a good movie.
No, just no. The character Rey is toxic, as are the rest of the diversity cast Disney shoe horned in for its trilogy. Better for someone to just buy out the IP, Lucasfilm, and if they have the the money 20th Century Fox, then stop everything for a few years while a proper Episode 7, 8 and 9 as a three part non woke story is worked out.
Just retcon them out of existence. The less time you spend "explaining" in-universe why they're no longer canon, the higher the risk of getting contaminated by those very same movies
see, with the dream sequence, they could act as if all of the bad writing was just the brain being stupid. They could also fix Rey, who was a mary sue in the last trilogy, but could be molded into someone who thinks they know everything, but are still unable to stop the events, which can create huge emotional payoffs by showing how distraught Rey is by not preventing horrible events, such as a death star type catastrophe or the death of a beloved character. This could also lead into some interesting situations such as Rey thinking she already knows Finn, but him not knowing who she is and becoming wary of her friendliness on top of the fact he's an ex-stormtrooper on the run. There could also be instances of Kilo Ren getting force visions of what Rey dreamed about, and becoming more and more paranoid at what he sees as his defeat in the future, and this could turn him from the tantrum thrower from the last trilogy into a determined and stone-hearted leader, a tyrant who works with logic and efficiency to dispatch his enemy, which in turn could lead to another Han Solo death scene, but much more impactful. Will the writers see this? Probably not. Would they listen even if they did? Absolutely not, but at least I had a suggestion.
Ahsoka makes sense to mostly Star women because it’s a continuation of Star Wars rebels. In Star Wars Rebels Kanan and Ezra sacrifice themselves to save the rest of the ghost crew. Ahsoka is going to be about finding Ezra. Stop spouting BS
I think Ahsoke looks good! She’s a great character. She had a long learning process, made mistakes, grew as a person… everything we always say we need in a character. Yeah, her floppy things look kinda muppet-y, but everything else looks fun. I don’t know if you watched all of The Clone Wars and Rebels, but I was pumped to see all the characters and think they mostly look pretty good. The Rebels cast was pretty 50/50 men and women, but the two male Jedi characters either died or disappeared, and the trailer shows Ezra, so he might be coming back. Guys, I think this looks good.
Completely agree. Clone wars and Rebels is the best Star Wars that Lucasfilm has put out in the last 20 years, and it’s all thanks to Dave Filoni, who is personally at the helm of Ahsoka. I love her character, and got emotional watching the trailer. I’m pumped about it despite all the other garbage coming out of Disney and Lucasfilm. I didn’t hear this panel even bring up clone wars, rebels, or Dave filoni, so I’m sure their expectation is the same as everything else disney has been putting out.
@@VincenzoAnthony Ikr. Most of the people that seem skeptical of the show or think it's definitely going to be bad haven't seen CW or Rebels and don't really know the history of the characters. I would probably think the same if I hadn't seen the animated shows either.
@@harbl99 maybe. I'm going to give them the chance. I love the Ahsoka character, Hera, Sabine, Zeb, Ezra, Kanan and even Chopper. They're only showing the girls in the clip, but hinting at the rest. I think we need to not trip on "not letting the girls play with our toys" and just let the story happen. I think Filoni created a really cool character with Ahsoka. I think Dawson (who I never really cared about before) looked PERFECT for the role in Mando/Fett. I think the new series looks great, from the trailer. But I'm the guy who got goosebumps seeing Luke slash through those deadly death droids of death in S2E10. I think I'm their target audience, even though I can say this: If you hate the bullshit "Force is Female" crap as much as I do, I'm REALLY impressed. Rey is the shittiest character SW has put out in decades. "Gurl Power " makes me roll my eyes in a way that sends me to the ER. But, hey... Spend your time on earth however you see fit. I'm here to giggle and have a good time.
Here's how I think Lucasfilm could be saved: 1) Fire Kathleen Kennedy. A no brainer there. The tricky part is replacing her with someone competent. One thing they could do, like Disney back during the Walt Era, or even during the Disney Renaissance, is have TWO heads. Walt+Roy, Eisner+Wells style. That way it's not just once person in control, but have someone more imaginative, someone more practical, to get a happy middle ground. And also making sure that most of the current writing staff goes bye-bye. Maybe the writer's strike will force some of the bad ones out. 2) Make all of the current Disney Star Wars materials Legends. Sequel Trilogy, the D+ tv shows, the High Republic books. Even the Indiana Jones movie and the Willow show. Just like with the current Legends stuff, you can still make merch and things for the new Legends, so fans of those things can still have them, but they're just not mainline Canon. Only things George touched are mainline Canon. 3) Like you said, let it sit for a few years or a decade before even _thinking_ about making more live action movies. Better yet, DON'T ever make anymore live action movies, at least not in the main timeline with the main characters. 4) Produce more interim material. Merchandise the HECK out of these properties. Exclusive figures, art books, etc. But also comic books, video games, animated shows, even radio dramas. Personally, I love radio dramas, the New Hope radio drama from the 70's was pretty cool. They could have a spotify channel or something to put those on. And I think Indiana Jones would make a really cool serial radio drama. Or an Indiana Jones video game, a really GOOD Indiana video game could be the coolest thing ever. Lots of puzzles and things. It could be _amazing._ Or they could do a "What if?" series like Marvel and do more side stories for all these franchises. OR imagine if they did a three season animated tv show that covered Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire series? I'd watch that. I'd watch the _heck_ out of that. 5) Hire new writers who are young with big imaginations, and put them under the mentorship of older, more experienced (and competent writers) to create new franchises under the Lucasfilm banner. Let the old franchises sit, make some new ones. Again, to reference the Disney Renaissance in the 90s, the new young animators and storytellers were creating a lot of new properties, but Disney could still make money off of old properties like Cinderella , Mickey Mouse, and Peter Pan, which they did. With comic books, home video, tv shows, etc. But they allowed the new crop to make new stuff. I really think if they just merchandise the old stuff, and let new up-and-comings (under the guidance of the more experienced) create stuff, then we will continue to get new cool stuff. Imagine if George Lucas never got his chance? And I think that's happening a lot with newer writers who actually could BE someone someday. 6) This one would have to be somewhere down the line, when Disney has disposable income again, but retheme Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland/World to be either A) Original Trilogy or B) a mix of all the trilogies, not just the Sequels. Have Darth Vader meet-and-greets right IN Star Wars land. Have Luke Skywalker running around fighting stormtroopers. Make it look like Tatooine or Naboo. All this being said, it still doesn't help with the problem of Disney bleeding money NOW. How to stop the current bleeding in order to be able to fix things, I'm not sure. Slashing budgets and making better movies is the only thing I can really think of.
i have to vouch for ahsoka. I know there is a lot going against it. But i grew up on dave filonis stuff. So i’m willing to give it a chance for the good will cultivated.
It's not looking promising though, but people will be happy to be proven wrong. I for one won't watch regardless of its quality, as I refuse to support Disney in its current state.
@@jt1559Her story should have been over in that Rebels episode, while what came before truly fleshed her out, anything after the time-travel shenanigans really hammers in the "Filoni pet project".
The actor that played Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones is apparently playing a young Palpatine. That’s the only thing I’m excited for, and it’s only because I’m glad the Tommen actor is getting high profile work and hoping he’s the best part of the show
