George Lucas Says J.J. Abrams Still Hasn't Called

[Mariahsyn]

First they came for the Gungans... and you said nothing because frankly who liked Jar Jar anyhow? Then they came for the Greedo... and you said nothing because you didn't understand why Han was supposed to shoot first and why it was ok... And when they brought in Midichlorians.. there was nothing but the screams of millions of Star Wars fans all crying out at the same time... and suddenly silenced..


Oh sorry.. yeah... Lucas bad.. Abrams.. not quite as bad?

 

[Quiotu]

Abrams intends to do his very best in raping and perverting an established sci-fi franchise. He obviously knows what he's doing (he demonstrated his abilities in the last two Star Trek movies) and doesn't need any outside help. Him not calling Lucas is therefore perfectly understandable.

So 'creating the two biggest blockbusters in the franchise' is the same as 'raping and perverting an established sci-fi franchise'. Good to know.

The difference between the two franchises is that Star Trek Nemesis barely broke even, while Revenge of the Sith got back its money 7 times over. Star Wars has always been mainstream, while Star Trek was not. Hate on Lucas all you want, but you fanboys gave him Scrooge McDuck levels of money from the prequel trilogy, as much as you love to vilify them.

The question here is can Abrams make another trilogy of movies in a franchise that never lost the mainstream audience, that never wasn't profitable.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

It's a funny situation isn't it? If Abrams does what Lucas wants, there'll be uproar from the fans. If Abrams does his own thing, there'll be uproar from the fans. It's almost like they should just have not bothered at all..

When they were shopping around for directors, virtually everyone they approached said "Thanks, but no thanks."
I think you pretty much nailed the reason right there.

Star Wars doesn't have a lot of good will banked anymore and there are going to be a lot of folks going into this movie wanting to hate it. So much so that this movie is a potential career killer.

 

[McMullen]

Not sure Abrams is going to be any better. He said he didn't like Star Trek because it was too philosophical. Not sure the guy has demonstrated an understanding of the material he's working with.

 

[Quiotu]

Not sure Abrams is going to be any better. He said he didn't like Star Trek because it was too philosophical. Not sure the guy has demonstrated an understanding of the material he's working with.

No, there's a huge difference between Star Trek and Star Wars on the subject of philosophy.

Star Trek at its heart is a room full of ship officers discussing philosophy at length, the sci-fi aspect is merely the setting, and the action is rare and a last resort. It's why Star Trek makes much better TV than movies, and why Abrams had to change a bit for the formula to work.

Star Wars is Space Opera. The philosophy is canned cheese that's only brought up to justify the action, which is the heart of the films, and the sci-fi setting is used to take swashbuckling and ship combat to a different level. For Abrams, Star Wars might be right up his alley... he just has big shoes to fill.

 

[Ukomba]

I'd hope he'd talk to Timothy Zahn before Lucas.

Are we talking about a telephone that makes phone calls into the past, or the present day Zahn?

With a time travel phone, he might as well just go ahead and call past Lucas. I have no problem with current Zahn, Scoundrels was pretty good. It has a little continuity issue with the Han Solo Trilogy, but it's fine. Why? Don't like he's recent writing?

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Some people probably see that as a point in Abrams' favour, in light of recent abhorrences.

 

[Something Amyss]

I wouldnt'call, either.

On second thought:

I'm sure Abrams will ask him many questions, then do the opposite of whatever Lucas says. At least he will if he's got any sense.

Actually, I'm betting most of his questions will be "what were you thinking?"

sometimes followed up with "LOST made more sense than that!"

 

[MrBaskerville]

I have a very bad feeling about these new Star Wars movies. I just know that Abrams will fill them with stupid homages and call backs to the old movies, and god i hate stuff like that. I just hope the movies will have those traces of noir that made the screenplay so effective in Empire, but i´m kinda expecting everything to be shiny, CG and sterile.

 

[Mr. Q]

Why do I get the feeling that this is a bad thing. I can understand keeping George Lucas at a distance but it would be nice to have him as a partial consultant.

 

[erbi79]

You know, and I know I will get hate for this, I would actually prefer it that Lucas remained in a consulting position for the new Trilogy.
To me there has always been a parallel between George Lucas and Peter Molyneux. Both started out great, but then, despite making great promises turned out to not be so good in Movie Making/Game Design as everyone suspected.
But also they are both very imaginative people.
Lucas DID have big part, how big is very open for debate though, in creating the original Star Wars Trilogy, but remember he did not really write those movies nor did he direct them.
So pushing him back to a consulting role, and not a decision making one, might actually turn out good.

JJ is a good Director but his movies are all a little stale and less then they could (should) be, so maybe it could be a very strong team-up between those two. In my opinion both need it, even JJ, and please don't answer with "but his movies are very successful so he is awesome", just think about which other movies were very successful...
All of his movies have very blatant flaws, but almost never in the direction, so there is something else missing, and maybe, just maybe teaming him up with crazy George might do the trick.

Honestly I am much more scared of Disney then of anything else... -.-

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Lucas, you know longer own the brand and technically have 0 right to be given information about the new movies (unless it was in a contract we didn't see).

Abrams could have finished the entire series already and not be obligated to tell you. I like you, you're an okay guy, but as soon as you threw out the Star Wars IP you also explicitly publicly stated no one had to talk to you anymore! Why do you keep waiting for them to talk to you?

 

[SSJBlastoise]

Why did I get the feeling that this is what Lucas was doing while I read this.

I'm fairly interested in where they go with the next trilogy though.