Lucas Has 50 Hrs Of Live-Action Star Wars Show, But...

[Wee67]

FROM THE NEW YORK POST-

Moviemaker George Lucas says he has 50 hours worth of scripts for the long-anticipated "Star Wars" live-action TV series already shot -- but is awaiting a technological breakthrough before the show can make it to TV.

Lucas told G4TV, the techie cable channel, that -- in TV terms -- he has scripts for two seasons of the new "Star Wars" series already written.

But the series is awaiting the development of "a different type of technology we can use so it's economically feasible to shoot the shows."

He did not say what the breakthrough would do, only that it was "just a very, very difficult process."

TV has to be produced for one-10th the cost of movies, he said, and the ability to make a credible TV show at such lower costs doesn't exist yet.

Lucas announced last year that the live-action TV series -- set between the "Star Wars" films"Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope" -- was being put on hold.

[palitoy]

Yeah great, I get to tell an eight year old that it ain't happenin'. Think I'll put it off until he asks.

[jimsmegos]

When I first heard about this years ago I thought it would be fun but now... I'm having second thoughts. Considering what's happened with the prequels I just don't think the "in between" stories would really be all that interesting. Sure they could be but I just don't see Star Wars on TV. That is a realm that Star Trek's universe handled just fine.

[sauce]

I agree. Lucas should wait until this technological breakthrough is developed:

[jimsmegos]

Another quick point... Lucas' last big "technological break through" brought us Jar Jar Binks.

Chew on that thought.

[Gorn Captain]

I think he means this: he wants to plug us straight into our TV sets, so that our own imaginations make the TV show come to life. Making it "economically feasible".

Reminds me of Cameron, who needs 15 years to make a new movie, a movie that "will change the cinema forever".
The only thing that changed is the price of admission, and that I have a headache after 15 minutes of watching 3D.

I wish George would just retire and raise sheep or something. CG sheep, of course...

[DocDrako]

Another quick point... Lucas' last big "technological break through" brought us Jar Jar Binks.

Chew on that thought.

Maybe the technology is a signal that comes through the TV that convinces us that the show doesn't suck no matter how bad the show really is. I would have loved Star Wars on TV as a kid, but I have no faith in George Lucas' writing skills these days.

[johnmiic]

Really? Is that the real reason? What TV network is waiting to pick this show up? I don't see any of the big 3 falling down all over each other trying to woo Lucas to air this Star Wars TV series when its ready to go into production.

Whatever this technological breakthru is, if he announced it, we would probably all groan at the ridiculousness of it. As Jim said the last breakthru he waited for gave us JarJar.

Even so near-flawless computer blue screen technology arrived after BTTF 2 & 3 circa 1990. CGI characters were possible as early as Jurassic Park and Jumanji circa 1993. ILM would have pushed the envelope and could have given us characters approaching Gollum quality long before Weta did for LOTR in 2002.

Everything else could have been done with the usual production methods if he had just dropped his obsession with slapstick, alien, fetch-um, comic relief characters. If he really had written the Prequel stories ahead of time they could likely have been completed & released Episode 1 before the "Special Revised Editions" first came out in 1997.

[bizzaro megomauler]

"He's just a crazy old man"-Owen Lars

[cdhall]

I'm sure it is 3-D.

But regarding TV demand. My youngest son loved Clone Wars for a while a few years ago and still watches it off and on. I assume it is doing well and sparked this live action thing.

George lost it during Jedi. The PreQuels were 3 nails in his coffin.

Who is Quai Gon? Why didn't that name ever come up before? And where did Yoda learn Wushu?

I'm sure there is a whole thread on all that somewhere. Ick. I hated the prequels.

[alex]

Im sure george has made enough money, time to repay the fans, and make it out of his own pile. It seems other SF shows pull it of, without us complaining about the effects, so why cant he. Its not going to be the same as the movies, 5 million effects per second, it doesnt work that way in a tv series, there has to be a build up of a story, dialogue etc. I really dont need to be wooed, by GL's next gimmick, just some good old fashioned space drama and action.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

What a weird thing to say.... I'm mixed about a new show: Clone Wars is pretty good; especially in the writing/plot department.... but that whole "new technology" bit worries me. What EXACTLY is he waiting for that's make it commercially viable? 3D? Blipverts? Full CGI so's he doesn't need to pay actors? Guest spot by the Hypnotoad?

Don C.

[jds1911a1]

Maybe he is waiting for motion capture and cgi actors to not looks so ANIMATED (see younger Flynn in Tron Legacy)

[Trappy Trek Freak]

I think it would be cool if the show's main character was Vader on the hunt for missing Jedi still roaming the galaxy.

[Mikey]

I heard it suppose to be a sitcom.

Can Vader and Jar-Jar share an apartment without driving eachother crazy ?