This was always going to be a rant, so buckle in… What’s he doing? We don’t even think he knows anymore. What he’s going to do with $4 billion is anyone’s guess, but it had better be for the good of all humanity if he’s ever going to make up for pimping out Yoda to the highest bidders. The only solace that there is in the announcement that Disney now own Lucasfilm Ltd, is that maybe, just maybe, they’ll be better custodians of the Star Wars legacy than Georgie-boy himself.
It’s not the new films that we’re affronted by, we don’t even mind Ja Ja Binks, but flogging Yoda to Vodaphone to be humiliated by muppets was a step too far. The terrible CGI additions to the original films wasn’t the best either; Jaba the Hut looked a lot cooler without a rubbish animated body reincarnation to validate a relaunch of the films.
However, it all hangs on a knife edge for the legacy of the films, because along with the announced sale of Lucasfilm Ltd. Disney has also released the news of Star Wars Episode 7 to be produced for 2015 with 8 and 9 to follow. The good thing is that if you look back on Disney’s back catalogue, you’ll struggle to find that many genuinely terrible films (Lion King is pretty much Star Wars on the Savanna anyway right?). The down side is that they haven’t really had that many sci-fi successes either, although Tron and Tron Legacy are the notable exceptions and their work on The Avengers is pretty encouraging.
So, the concept could have potential! They’ll definitely take on the responsibility seriously and with the might of Disney behind it, maybe Star Wars Episode 7, 8 and 9 could work well.
The other issue is that surely the story has been told and there’s no more room left in the Star Wars intergalactic tank for another few chapters… but what about the genius of Star Wars Force Unleashed or The Clone Wars spin offs? Their story lines are enough to put them up with the originals, so the potential is already there.
The reality is that if Disney can pull together all of the positives, look after Yoda and keep Lucas at arms length (that picture is a shocker!) from now on, we might be on for something class.
Luckily for George, the news on the street is that he’s going to be donating his gains to education and philanthropy, so maybe the saga will have a happy ending after all. Not in an expensive massage sense. You wouldn’t wish that on your worst enemy (Vodaphone, although they’d deserve it), let alone a lovely lady of the night.
