Let's Remake Star Wars

[Noetherian]

Great job, Bob. Now I almost want this to happen!

...That said, I'll also second the point that there's more than enough EU for exploring more of the universe. I don't know that I actually want a movie of KotOR itself, with all the potential that has to not jibe well with my enjoyment of the game(s), but... Wouldn't it be fun to see a movie set in a near-KotOR period-- not based on the game itself, but full of Sith plots and backstabbing and explosions (and, fine, some charismatic Jedi or other)? It might even revitalize SWTOR!

 

[Blind0bserver]

Brilliant. We can do a gritty reboot of the entire series. Hell, we can even cast Katee Sackoff as Han Solo.

... I'm not sure if I'm being sarcastic or not...

 

[Nieroshai]

Blasphemy! I cannot see a good reason for this, other then to get George to leave them alone.

Re-make them without Lucas, of course! And we all know the prequels could use better writing, ant the originals could use better visuals. Middle ground, here we come.

 

[darkbshadow]

I would like to see this happen, However i think the internet would meltdown. You remember the outrage of when they replaced Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen at the end of Jedi. Now think of when they have a remake with a complete new cast.

Still I think it is a great Idea, and maybe we would get a 7,8,&9 finally if the remakes do well.

 

[daibakuha]

Brilliant. We can do a gritty reboot of the entire series. Hell, we can even cast Katee Sackoff as Han Solo.

... I'm not sure if I'm being sarcastic or not...

Leave Leia as a woman, but recast Han as a girl. I would love to see that.

I'm now imagining 1970's era Carrie Fisher making out with Katee Sackoff.

 

[Mullahgrrl]

Remaking star wars is almost tautologous considering that it almost made entirely of bits and pieces of earlier films.


I recently rewatched little lord Fauntleroy(1936) and realised, hey thats Anakin. and that is far from the first time this has happened.

 

[LobsterFeng]

I want movies based on the X-Wing series. Please tell me I'm not the only one here that's read those books.

 

[Something Amyss]

Four reasons stacked against five hundred is not good odds or a good justification for remaking Star Wars.

Never tell me the odds!

I couldn't resist.

 

[likalaruku]

Ah... How would Hollywood do this today?

1)Take everything that made the original movie good & toss it out the window.
2)Make unnecessary changes to make it edgier.
3)Since it will obviously sell, stretch each part of the original trilogy into it's own trilogy to make as much money as possible.
4)If you let a director remake one of his own movies, he'll change the hell out of it selfishly. without consideration of the fans, to show how he's changed as an artist, resulting in both 1 & 2 happening.
5)Things get retconned, new plotholes are created.
6)Because of the reputation of the prequels & sequels, people will go in either fully expecting to hate the remake or with sky high expectations that won;t be met.

 

[Orks da best]

Bob, I may dislike you attidue to certain games, but when it comes to movies, you really now how to ingite the powder keg.

That said remake the Star Wars fils could be good. Though the fanbase should have there month ducktape, 3 times, and their hands tied up, with chains. Yea the star wars fanbase, one of the 10 worse out there. or top ten in possion of the worst vocal memebers.

Also the prequels are enjoyable. I grew on them, not the originals, I an just as nostalgia blinded as any fan of the originals is.

 

[theETG]

This is actually something I've considered before. A remake of the original Star Wars. Sure, it sounds sensible to a certain degree. But I think the notion underestimates the level of iconography associated with Star Wars now.
In a lot of ways the original trilogy was a perfect storm of great effects, great music, great sound design, great acting, quotable scripting, and savvy direction. As such, it's legacy is beyond just the characters. It's the hook shot of the Star Destroyer sweeping in above us on screen. It's the music that plays as Luke looks out across the binary sunset. It's even the cheesy costumes in the Cantina on Mos Eisley.
Star Wars is one of those rare cases where I'd say: just leave it be. Even if you did remake the film in a way that made it better (heightened drama in the script with foreknowledge of what was to come, as pointed out), it would never be as visionary or as iconic as the original. And even if it *was*, if it *was* somehow more iconic, with a better script and better characters and all of that, I'd only have one complaint:
"Sir, why the hell are you wasting all of this talent on a bloody remake?"

 

[thirion1850]

If it happened, I'd watch it. Yeah, I actually really liked the prequels, cry me a river.

 

[thirion1850]

George Goofus remakes Star wars and implements new bad ideas everyone else but him knows is bad every time he re-releases it.

Don't give that idiot anymore bad ideas he comes up with enough on his own.

It's his movie, a franchise he created, thus it shall be as he damn well pleases. If you can make a better Star Wars movie, please, oblige us. I'll be waiting for the announcement.

Oh, what's that? You're not a director? No experience in movie making and any of its fields? I guess I'll settle for Lucas' horrible ideas and you can ***** about said actual work on the internet.

 

[Wriggle Wyrm]

To be honest, despite all the talk of Stars Wars being a universal hero?s journey, I don?t think it would ?work? in today?s world, at least not with American audiences. The originals were something of a product of their times. The USSR was a looming threat and the Second World War was more present in people?s minds to escape to.

Since then the social narrative has moved on. The Soviet Union doesn?t exist anymore, Nazis imagery has been way overused and all of those Al-Qaida types are a bunch of losers living in caves. There just aren?t any credible external threats left.

That isn?t to say good writers and directors couldn?t think of something. I while ago I remember seeing a scene from some modern war movie. It started with an American cruiser was chasing after a small boat filled with terrorists and ended with the marines boarding it and ruthlessly killing everyone on board. There always seemed to be something familiar about it, and then I realized that it was unintentionally an almost an exact match for the opening scene of a New Hope.

This is the main problem, in the current climate there?s is no way of creating a new version without addressing unfortunate implications, being completely tone deaf or pissing a lot of people off. And it?s not just politics, basic movie criticism has gotten a lot harsher, Avatar for example, while having a viewpoint that most people probably shared still got raked over the coals.

But anyway, with all that has happened to the franchise in the last decade, the kindest thing we could do for it is take it behind the woodshed and tearfully give it both barrels.

 

[Infernai]

Here's an idea, make some films set in the post Six era. Namely Adapting the following games into films:

Dark Forces 2, Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy.

That way we can declare some of the stupider stuff of the Expanded Universe non canon and finally put the badassitude of Kyle Katarn on Screen and deal with the fact that there's still remnants of the Empire around. Also, we can finally say that Emperor Palpatine DID NOT RISE FROM THE DEAD! IT NEVER HAPPENED I TELL YOU! *Blocks ears* LALALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LALALALALALA!

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

Even without reading the other comments I'm pretty sure I'm joining the chorus here: remake it AFTER Lucas is dead, with someone else - anyone else - in charge.

 

[Calibanbutcher]

Why a remake would be a bad idea:
It would be made for money, so who would be the director?
Michael Bay probably.
Who would be Luke, the guy we are supposed to identify with?
Shia LaBoeuf.
Who would be Darth Vader?
CGI.
Does that sound like something you would want?

 

[SnowBurst]

the biggest reason not to is the latest trilogy... nuff said

 

[Frontastic]

Yeah why not, everything else is going to get remade eventually. Sigh. Plus this one doesn't sound like a terrible idea. Leave 'Empire' alone (that's pretty much the only truly great SW film) but the first one was always kind of meh to me. Not as meh as 'Jedi' but still.

Also in terms of sacred sci-fi that must never, ever EVER be remade, Star Wars isn't close to the top of that list. If they remake '2001', ever, for any reason, even if it's in the future and they have a future-science zombie Kubrick... That is the day the streets will run red with blood.

 

[Atmos Duality]

What this reading ignores is that, thematically, Star Wars was every bit the personal expression of the Baby Boom generation's conflicted feelings of admiration for the "good war" fought by their fathers and the "bad war" slogging to a close in Vietnam as depicted in fellow late 70s smash Apocalypse Now.

I think this is reading too deeply into the material even though it fits the sociopolitical mindset of the era the original films were made in. Call me a clueless plebeian who wasn't alive at that time, and who shouldn't comment, but I just don't see any reconciliation of Vietnam in this, and only the most general bits of WW2.

OK, "Lets kill space Nazis together, go Rebels!" is an overarching theme, but not directly equatable to WW2.

I can see it most clearly in the X-Wing dogfights and even a bit in the character descriptions provided for Luke and Leia, but nowhere else; especially not Han (who ends up marrying Leia in the end...and I don't think many European nations consensually joined the USSR following WW2).

No analogy is perfect.

Star Wars works because the conflict in general is very very clearly defined.
Empire = Bad. Rebels = Good. This works brilliantly with Lucas's direction paying an homage to those old Sci-Fi and adventure serials.

As an analog for WW2, the US's involvement was justified and necessary.

The current War on Terror; particularly in the Middle East, isn't so cut and dry.

If Luke and Leia are the United States and Europe, then they are the new authority. They are the New Empire; a superpower collective with a powerful military force who intervenes in the affairs of smaller countries.

Remaking the Star Wars films would require a total rewrite of the roles; made worse by the complex social-political element deeply tied to the ongoing conflict.

We've already seen Lucas' attempts at political intrigue in the prequel trilogy (*snore*), and we got just a little taste of how he handles topical political bullshit in Crystal Skull.

I'm not afraid of social commentary in film (it is a very necessary, and powerful form of freedom of expression), but to date, I have yet to watch a movie that pulls off topical political bullshit without coming across as condescending, pretentious, and irritating.
It always ends up just dragging the film through the mud.

At best, it's incidental comedy.
At worst, it's insane raving like The Trial of Billy Jack.

I want movies based on the X-Wing series. Please tell me I'm not the only one here that's read those books.

The first four Rogue Squadron books by Stackpole are among my favorite books series.
They aren't deep, but they are fun and have this shit called "Character development" that's in terribly short supply in the prequel trilogy.