The new "Star Wars" trailer

LOL - it's wiki, but the point gets across.

 

He could be the next USC coach.

 

Maybe the black duds are more slimming and comfortable.

 

Zip it, fantasy football boy.

 

I made a 14-hour road trip twice in the past five days. On the first go-around, the radio was locked on the fantasy sports station. On the second, I listened to maybe 60 seconds of it. Too many nerds. They're taking over.

 

I find it hard to beleive that George Lucas had a real plan that Star Wars was the story of the Skywalkers. I remember when Star Wars first came out and it was Lucas' attempt to have a fun movie along the lines of the old 50's serials he liked as a kid. His advantage was that he is a great movie maker (not story teller). THe action scenes and his use of special effects were revolutionary. Honestly, I think he was making the stuff up as he went along at worst and at best was just telling a simple story of good over coming evil.

And I have a harder time beleiving that Obi Wan aged so terrbily in the 18 years between episode III and IV.

 

Well, he got the mole on his forehead removed. Maybe he did aging surgery?

 

That Jedi-enforced celibacy ages you fast.

Note that the one Jedi known not to be celibate still looked mid-20ish in Force Ghost form when he reappeared to his son some 25 years later.

 

Gary Kurtz gave an interview to Starlog magazine in December 1978 in which he talks about Lucas' plan for the prequels and the story of Darth Vader. The money quote, in answer to a question about whether the Star Wars sequel would be called Star Wars II:

They didn't add "Episode IV: A New Hope" to the title scroll until 1981, but the idea had already been hatched.

Even as he wrote Star Wars, Lucas was always fascinated with Vader's history. He imagined Vader's backstory being that he betrayed Obi-Wan, killed Anakin and fell into the volcano, ultimately leading his need for the suit. As they worked on Empire, he expanded and changed his idea for what Vader's backstory might be, leading him to, "No. I am your father," and the idea that the Star Wars saga is the not just Luke's journey, but Anakin's rise, fall and redemption as well.

So, I suppose if you're talking about the moment of inspiration when he began writing Star Wars, maybe Lucas wasn't thinking about the prequels. But it wasn't long after that he began developing the idea. It's been pretty well catalogued on the record since long before the prequels were announced.

And to the extent that he was "making it up as he went along," well, isn't that what all fiction writers do?

 

Most of what I've seen and heard points to Finn being a Stormtrooper who decides he can't do that any more.

 

Some of it was good, but the fall of Jacen Solo never really worked. The one good part of of the old EU stuff was that the core characters did remain true to their movie roots. The characterizations were consistent.

I read a story today which was just the latest rumor that Luke has turned to the dark side. Mark Hamill apparently argued for the idea years ago, mostly because he thought it would be more fun to play the villain. I certainly hope they don't go that route. If they are going to use the main characters from the original movies, they should be true to the established characterizations.

 

I can't imagine a scenario where they would turn Skywalker to the Dark Side. No way. My bet is the jaw-dropping thing that Han/Chewie see in the trailer as they are being held captive is some sort of massive use/disturbance in the Force caused by Luke.