Star Wars: The (Live-Action) TV Series

[Wee67]

ABC to look at 'Star Wars' live-action TV series

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/01/10/star-wars-live-action-tv-series-3/

I guess it didn't take Disney (owners of ABC) too long to pull this idea off the shelf.-

From Entertainment Weekly-
ABC entertainment president Paul Lee says he’s going to take a look at the long-gestating Star Wars live-action TV series now that the Disney deal to acquire Lucasfilm is complete.

“We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm, we’re not sure what yet,” Lee exclusively told EW. “We haven’t even sat down with them. We’re going to look at [the live-action series], we’re going to look at all of them, and see what’s right. We weren’t able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. It’s definitely going to be part of the conversation.”
Even many working in Hollywood don’t realize a live-action Star Wars TV series has been sitting on the shelf the past few years. The project was commissioned by longtime Lucasfilm producer Rick McCallum, who enlisted writers such as Battlestar Galactica‘s Ron Moore and swore them to NDA secrecy on the plot details (more on the show’s storyline below). Fifty scripts were written. McCallum once called the scripts the most “provocative, bold and daring material that we’ve ever done.”

And then … nothing.

[Figuremod73]

If I could chose between three new movies or a well made (long running) tv show I would go with the TV show.

Its going to be interesting to see what Disney does with the property.

[Byrnes]

I was hoping this show would have been on TV by now, it's been in (pre) production for like 3 years. I would love a TV show.

[MegoMark71]

Could be great if it's done right.

[sprytel]

Lucas had said, without giving any details, that the technology wasn't there to affordably shoot the TV series as he envisioned it. But then again, over the years Lucas became more and more interested in playing with the technology than in telling a good story. I suspect ABC will be more willing to cut some corners if they think it is a show people would watch.

[ODBJBG]

This TV show always annoyed me. Lucas claims to have been working on it night and day for years and then one day is just like "yeah, it's not happening. The technology isn't where I want it." which basically meant there was no way he could make the whole show CGI and in the turn around that he wanted. But then it was like, so *** was he working on? Anyone could have told him that on day one. And lord knows, he wasn't working on a script. He banged out those awful prequel scripts in like a week or something.

Maybe ABC can do something with it. I think there's a good TV show buried in there somewhere. And if it fleshes out new characters, it could lead to even more new films, which you know, means more money for Disney.

And let's not even take the stance of "Star Wars is only those 3 films, they should leave everything else alone" because that ship sailed a long, long time ago in a time period far, far away. Star Wars is all about exploring and exploiting every facet of every corner of that universe.

[raider5gt]

Sounds good if ABC can get this off the ground,I also would prefer a live action series,to any new movies,I think it could be good if done right.

[k2]

i want a sw show so bad if it is fantasy/sci-fi, but i have a feeling it going to be a dark gritty show like battlestar galactia was

[Bionicfanboy66]

Don't really see ABC/Disney going the dark and gritty route with SW. Probably won't see a live action TV series until after the Clone Wars has ended and Episodes 7-9 have been released.

[Bruce Banner]

Budget was indeed the primary reason that LFL canned the idea.

Plus, McCallum was doubtful the show would find a place on the major TV networks:

McCallum: “Network television and cable television as we know it are completely imploding, so we’re not really sure that in five years’ time we can release a dramatic one-hour (Star Wars) episode because it is all reality TV now.”

The premise for the show was certainly interesting. Exploring the gritty side of the universe with criminal gangs and bounty hunters:

McCallum: “Basically, it is like ‘The Godfather’; it’s the Empire slowly building up its power base around the galaxy, what happens in Coruscant, which is the major capital, and it’s [about] a group of underground bosses who live there and control drugs, prostitution.”

To be honest, I never liked the idea of a SW TV series... the true home of SW is on the big screen, IMO.


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[Brue]

It would be nice to see something like the short stories from "Tales from the Mos Eisly Cantina" done. This was one of the few books that din't stink.

Each explored a character who was in the cantina and what there story was.

It doesn't poop on continuity (what's left of it). It takes place during the period that is most relevent to star wars fans.

i would also like to see a re-envisioning of the pre star wars years -something that ignores the existence of episodes 1-3

[Megotu]

Nah, let's do a Will Ferrell style live action version of the Ewoks cartoon...

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

The Clone Wars show is pretty good. If they did something that nifty, but with new stuff I'd be in.

Don C.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Clone Wars has its moments, but I find overall it suffers from the same stiff, boring feel that strangled the prequels. It's...stuffy. I never got that feeling from the original trilogy. It's like the Next Gen version of Star Wars. All protocol and blah blah blah.

Chris

[ctc]

>It's...stuffy.

A lot of it is; they use the old 60's style pacing with a lot of it. I find the parts with the main characters are the worst, whereas the newer guys are usually pretty entertaining. I've suspected that's 'cos they're trapped with the established characters: we know what's going to happen, so they can't spring any real surprises on us; and we know how they're SUPPOSED to come across, so that's all academic too. I think that's why I'd prefer the new show to be NEW. Same with the new movies, although there's already some hints that they're gonna rely on the ol' standbys:

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/01/zack_snyder_to_make_samurai-style_star_wars_movie.php

*sigh* When you can say your new whatever is "like blahblahblah meets blahblahBLAHblahblah!" it's not actually new.

Don C.