Taika Waititi’s new Star Wars film will “expand” the universe
Don't expect to meet Chewbacca's grandmother in Waititi's Star Wars
Aux News Film
Trying to create something original within a major franchise controlled by a megacorporation must be like getting blood from a stone, but if anyone can do it, Taika Waititi can. His (relatively) innovative work on Thor: Ragnarok made him one of the most sought after filmmakers in Hollywood, enough so that he was given the keys to the Star Wars kingdom.
Neither Marvel nor Lucasfilm are known for being hands-off with their properties, but nonetheless Waititi has somehow managed to thrive under these conditions. Luckily, Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy is in the market to “create a whole new saga,” and Waititi is just the man for the job.
Speaking with Total Film, the director said, “Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand.” Yes, that’s the kind of genius wisdom modern cinema needs. Seriously though, leaving behind the Skywalkers is easier said than done–Waititi has even been involved in The Mandalorian, which has plenty of Skywalker fingerprints on it.
When he’s in the driver’s seat, though, things will be different: “I don’t think that I’m any use in the Star Wars universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother,’” he said. “That all stands alone, that’s great, though I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world, otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story.”
If you’re making a Star Wars movie that has no connection to the previous Star Wars movies, why not just make an original sci-fi film? The state of modern cinema being such as it is, that’s probably too much to ask.
Still, he is correct that the Skywalker timeline is getting a bit too crowded. Rather than expanding the universe, the Disney+ series have crammed so many new stories in the years between the trilogies that the canon is threatening to implode. The safest route to avoid fandom ire is to simply start anew. As long as Waititi sticks to the basic principles of the Force, he should be in the clear.
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Assuming he can keep Kennedy from interfering too much, I’m sure Waititi will do well.Besides, if we can trust anyone to do right by Chewie’s nana, it’s Waititi.
Kennedy was really the worst of the v-jays in the 90s MTV era. I even preferred Jesse, and no one liked him.
Bite your tongue. Kennedy was awesome.
Kennedy’s a libertarian nutjob.
Okay, so she never matured past her VJ age. Gotcha.
What was the awesome part? Glasses? Go back and watch, she had the charisma of baking soda.
I think the “awesome” part was she kinda looked like an alternative girl you had a crush on in high school. So basically a surface read to associate with real life longing.
Sorry to shatter you, but she’s a talking head on FOX cable networks now. I wish I was joking.
Well, she was always “the Republican” one, so this isn’t too surprising.
I had Jesse Camp as a guest on my podcast and he is still out there, doing Jesse things. Has not changed.
oooh watch it people gonna jump down your throat for insinuating Kennedy’s stuff without Favreu/Filoni is bad.In fact I have it on good authority that Obi-Wan is the best Star Wars show ever and all the rest are garbage. LaurenceQ was VERY insistent about that!
Turns out they’re all garbage!
https://theplaylist.net/solo-lord-and-miller-fan-service-20220207/Again, it’s not necessarily clear why Kathleen Kennedy fired Lord and Miller from ‘Solo.’ The reports claim that the directors were hoping to blaze new ground and bring a unique spin to the “Star Wars” franchise. Kennedy, so says the reports, was uneasy about the tone of the film and brought in Howard to right the ship and deliver what was ultimately a lackluster “Star Wars” feature that felt very safe, with fan service moments and winks and nods to other films.Lord and Miller seem to be on the side of the discussion where they believe fan service might be fun at the moment, but that goal will ultimately bring disappointment. “If you’re giving the audience exactly what they expect and a bunch of, ‘just fan service,’ they’re going to end up disappointed, they’re gonna be like, ‘Yeah, this is stuff I already knew,’” Lord explained. “The trick is to figure out what it is they don’t quite yet realize that they want and every idea that you add into the stew is something that you’re like, ‘Oh, that would be a cool thing to see that I haven’t seen before and isn’t the thing that’s expected because I think people are really savvy now and so you have to stay two steps ahead of them and I feel like that’s our job.”
Again, it’s not necessarily clear why Kathleen Kennedy fired Lord and Miller from ‘Solo.’I will be interested to see if Waititi can break free of SW convention in ways that Lord and Miller weren’t allowed to and Abrams wasn’t interested in. I’ve not been much interested in any of the Disney series, partly because I don’t really want to support the Mouse House, but mostly because none of those series sounded like anything very new.
https://theplaylist.net/solo-lord-and-miller-fan-service-20220207/Again, it’s not necessarily clear why Kathleen Kennedy fired Lord and Miller from ‘Solo.’ The reports claim that the directors were hoping to blaze new ground and bring a unique spin to the “Star Wars” franchise. Kennedy, so says the reports, was uneasy about the tone of the film and brought in Howard to right the ship and deliver what was ultimately a lackluster “Star Wars” feature that felt very safe, with fan service moments and winks and nods to other films.Lord and Miller seem to be on the side of the discussion where they believe fan service might be fun at the moment, but that goal will ultimately bring disappointment. “If you’re giving the audience exactly what they expect and a bunch of, ‘just fan service,’ they’re going to end up disappointed, they’re gonna be like, ‘Yeah, this is stuff I already knew,’” Lord explained. “The trick is to figure out what it is they don’t quite yet realize that they want and every idea that you add into the stew is something that you’re like, ‘Oh, that would be a cool thing to see that I haven’t seen before and isn’t the thing that’s expected because I think people are really savvy now and so you have to stay two steps ahead of them and I feel like that’s our job.”
If he really goes in a new direction and does a good job (which I believe he will), I wonder what the fan response will be. The consensus a lot of the time is, “no more skywalkers, jedi, sith, etc… Explore the rest of the universe.” I’ve said the same myself. If Waititi does this successfully, will they still complain about the same thing? I assume, yes, but it’s interesting to me.
No matter what happens, a vocal percentage of people will be gigantic dicks about it.
Pretty sure you just described life in general…
Star Wars fandom is a microcosm of the world we live in. An extremely vocal minority of huge toxic dicks who ruin everything for the rest of us.
I think the majority of fans actually don’t want anything new, even if they said differently. There is a very narrow view for what star wars is, but I do wonder if Disney has worn it into the ground hard enough that even some of those fans might be ready for something else. The reason I like Waititi so much is that he makes crowd pleasers with real heart, so if anyone can do it it’s him. The only problem is I don’t think anyone can do it.
Hard disagree. There were plenty of Star Wars side stories and video games that either didn’t star Jedi or had them in side roles only (or, for the Rogue Squadron games, had them be pilots only and not use their powers whatsoever). It wasn’t until Disney and EA that all of that disappeared.
I read a lot of the EU books back in the day, but do you really think that the majority of fans care about that stuff? As much as I enjoyed it back then, I dont think much of it would hold up as a movie either (not that they pulled that off anyways so maybe it’s a moot point.)
Rogue One shows otherwise. And people have been clamoring for a proper Rogue Squadron adaptation (which would focus on dogfights, not lightsabers) for decades. There was also a heavy demand for a Shadows of the Empire adaptation back in the day.
People complaining about the universe going unexplored and people complaining that there’s still a whoooole lot of Tatooine to look around on aren’t necessarily the same people. A lot of them are, but not all of them.
Half of that fanbase will shit their pants if the protagonist isn’t a white male, so it’s best just to ignore them at this point.
I am here for Jedi. What makes Star Wars different if not Jedi and The Force? Even Mando is basically just your run of the mill space marine, as good as that show turned out to be (about half the time).
“I wonder what the fan response will be.”
Why do you wonder that? Who fucking cares what the “fan response” will be, if he does a good job?
I doubt even Waititi can escape having a bunch of Star Wars fan service stuff shoved into his movies, but it’s refreshing that he at least wants to try and breakaway from the original films.
That’s where the Old and High Republic come in
tbf he’s good at the fan service stuff too (his Mandalorian episode was hilarious), so it’s win-win really.
If you had told me when I was a kid that we would be getting a new Star Wars movie like every year, along with 20 spin-off TV shows and new cartoons and toys, I would have been absolutely over the moon.As a 40-something who grew up on the originals, I can confidently say that I am safely under that moon. And if they shelved this entire franchise forever at this point, my lifelong nostalgia would be completely satisfied.To be fair, I did finally, after all these years sitting on the edge of my seat, find out the origin of Han Solo’s last name. It’s just insane how awful this franchise has become.
While the fan favorite would probably be for him to do work in the KOTOR era, even that’s still technically retreading old ground.
I’d like to see something dramatically different from what we’ve seen, both geographically and distant in time. We’ve seen the distant past — what’s the distant future of Star Wars?
That’s probably too much for Disney, though, so I’d settle for the far side of the galaxy, during the First Order era, which we’ve seen almost none of, other than some world building about the lives of Stormtroopers and the fact that there are casinos.
Well, Star Wars was a long time ago, so the distant future to them could just be modern day to us. Maybe we could have a couple characters land on Earth in the 1980s, and try to hide amongst the civilian population while fighting off stormtroopers.
Given how well Galactica 1980 turned out, I feel like this is clearly the best possible option.
You can go to hell. That episode with Wolfman Jack is better than than ‘The Wire’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ combined.
George Lucas’ biggest creative mistake was not putting Wolfman Jack in ALL of his movies.
He could’ve redeemed himself by putting him in the latest iteration of all his Very Special Editions had he not sold the keys to Disney. I’m sure that AI voice technology and Cushing/Hamill/Fisher-style deepfakery could do it perfectly!
Stormtroopers would be ancient history by the 1980s. They should be fighting off a droid uprising.
Given Disney’s involvement, I can only see this as somehow turning into them trying to find a way to use this idea to connect Star Wars to Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull (or whatever the fuck that piece of garbage was called) and create one unified Lucasfilms universe.
That’s just retreading ground already covered in the BSG finale.
The way technology seems to be evolving in the Star Wars galaxy, it will look exactly the same as the last 1,000 years except maybe a little more streamlined. Or, if they’re bold about it, the technology will actually be worse.
Having a dark age would be a good way of explaining how stagnant the galaxy appears to be.
I would have liked a KOTOR trilogy to be handled by Benioff and Weiss – shit on the last couple of seasons of Game of Thrones all you like, but when they had completed source material to adapt they did an excellent job of turning novels into television. I think adapting a videogame would have been up their alley.For Waititi? I’d love to see him do a Doctor Aphra movie. Tonally I think that he’d be a good fit for the material, and while the comics are both set in the usual time period and can’t help but intersect with the usual faces the main focus is on the original characters and action away from the main events of Star Wars. Plus, how can you resist the idea of an amoral Indiana Jones-type of character as the protagonist of stories in the Star Wars universe?
Plus evil R-2 and 3PO?!
I’d be surprised if anyone who read the comic didn’t have C-3PO’s voice for Triple Zero in their head, with the same cadences and inflections and everything.Also, along with ‘Evil R2 and 3PO’ there’s ‘Evil Chewbacca’ in the form of Black Krrsantan…who made it into live action in Book of Boba Fett.
(For more evil 3PO, check out the Auralnauts Star Wars videos on Youtube. Then, give the baby to Creepio.)
I think it’s easier to build a universe in the past as you can take inspiration from architecture, clothing and ship design based on our own cultural past. Go too far in the future and you may end up with some real Schumacher design horror.
Nipples on stormtrooper armor is just evoking classical gladiator armor! It’s a perfectly viable artistic vision!
“While the fan favorite would probably be for him to do work in the KOTOR era”
So you think “expand the universe” meant “do other things that have already been done”?
FFS
I feel Waititi should be given full control of the Old Republic, the only limits being accurate references to historical events in the current films, shows, comics, games, and so forth. Since Revan is now canon, Waititi should put him in his work if he wants, but nothing during the course of the Skywalker saga.
Nah. A free hand to do whatever he wants without being shackled to gamer memories from almost twenty years ago is the way to go. There’s zero advantage for him to mess with Revan. Keep it in your memories.
I looked forward to the all fresh adventures of Sky Lukewalker and San Holo battling the evil Varth Dader.
With faithful sidekicks Bewchacca and 3-CPO?
What about Prince Alei (fabulous he)?
Prince Alei… a-Babwa?
I don’t like the sound of ‘ese ‘ere “Boncentration Bamps.”
Pew pew pew. Pew pew pew pew (pew pew pew “pew pew”.) Furthermore, pew pew pew pew pew pew. Pew pew pew. P.S. Pew pew pew pew pew (if you know what I mean!)
Outside of the existing core films, the Star Wars “universe” is pretty bland. Planets are based on the climates here on earth, plus molten. The technology is all the same and hasn’t advanced much in the last 30 years (likely because all the new installments are stuck in the past or around the original trilogy) so all you’re left with are scary muppets and space wizards.How about a Star Wars story that takes place on Coruscant or some other Ecumenopolis in a corner bar (without a stupid band and Twi’lek dancers) where the action is focused on mundane shit like getting the rent paid or when the owner’s college buddy comes into town and hits on the owner’s girlfriend or the friend comes out – and once a year there’s an episode where all the bar employees get together at someone’s apartment for Wookie Life Day and they have a clip show.I’d watch that before I’d watch more Disney+ “We filmed this outside of Bakersfield” Tattoine bullshit.
But the technology is supposed to be incidental to the storytelling in SW. It’s perfectly fine if we’re not tracking hyperspace improvements across the saga or wondering when your droid is going to get a new operating system.
The technology is all the same and hasn’t advanced much in the last 30 years…That part I can actually buy. We’re used to rapid technological change, decade over decade or even shorter, but for most of human history it didn’t occur like that. Daily life in a village in Europe in the 1330’s usually wasn’t appreciably different from the 1370’s, or even the 1470’s or 1570’s, for that matter.
In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest the rate of life-altering technological change is slowing down for us as well. The last big daily life permeating technologies I can think of are Zoom, which was basically a technology that had been kicking around for years until circumstances finally forced people to adopt it, and the smartphone, which isn’t actually a new technology, just a whole bunch of preexisting technologies layered on top of each other. How about a Star Wars story that takes place on Coruscant or some other Ecumenopolis … I’d watch that before I’d watch more Disney+ “We filmed this outside of Bakersfield” Tattoine bullshit. Now this I kind of agree with more. The original idea behind Tatooine was that it was about as far from the action as a person could get in the galaxy. It was literally nowhere. That’s what gave an extra urgency to Luke’s longing to get out of there. He new there was literally no way he could be anybody as long as he stayed there. It also made it the perfect place for Obi Wan to hide out. On the other hand, if the most important and powerful people in the galaxy are constantly making appearances there, it no longer seems like much of a forlorn backwater.
Tatooine wasn’t always literally “nowhere”, though. It just was from Luke’s perspective. It was always at least a somewhat significant criminal hub. But, don’t misunderstand. I don’t think the franchise should ever, ever, ever go back to that wildly overrepresented planet again (once Obi Wan goes home in a couple more episodes.)
“Tatooine wasn’t always literally “nowhere”, though.”
Yes it was. The *point* of stashing Luke there was that it was the “outer rim” of the galaxy.
I think Mos Eisley spaceport was meant to be a significant hub of criminal activity relative to its location. Lots of quiet, rural places still have a town, part of town, or even just a street where the lowlifes hang out, where kids are warned to stay away from, etc. But I still don’t think it was meant to portray a central hub of galaxy wide criminality analogous to the way New York, Chicago, Detroit, etc. were centers for nation wide criminal syndicates.
But the Hutts are among the biggest crime syndicates in the galaxy. They’re not just the local drunken yahoos down at the pool hall. There’s no reason both can’t be true. Tatooine is a backwater which also happens to be where a powerful gangster makes his home.One of the (few) things the old EU did right was suggest that the criminal element in Tatooine basically fell away after Jabba died.
But the Hutts are among the biggest crime syndicates in the galaxy.
Again, I don’t think you have to draw that conclusion from Lucas’ original trilogy. Jabba is more like a big fish in a smaller pond. He has power and influence in his region because he collaborates with Imperial rule, and thus is useful to them for keeping the locals in line. But they could crush him like a bug if they wanted to.
The Phantom Menace implies that the Hutt’s are a fairly big deal, almost on par with the Trader Federation.And, while the Empire is certainly more powerful than a crime syndicate, the Obi Wan series confirms that the Empire has no control in the Outer Rim, making the Hutts by default even more significant.Book of Boba Fett shows that the crime lords of Tatooine – whoever they are – basically run the place with the complicity of toothless, corrupt local politicians. Throughout both old EU and new ancillary media, (including the Clone Wars), the Hutts are posited as one of the biggest crime syndicates in the galaxy.
So, could the Empire “crush” the Hutts if they wanted to? Arguably, sure. But the Hutts lay claim to an area outside the Empire’s normal sphere of influence, so it would certainly take at least a moderate amount of effort.It’s sort of like asking if the US Army could defeat the Mafia. Well, in a straight fight, sure, but that’s not how the Mafia operates.
Except the sequels don’t even have a new vehicle model, all they did was add a racing stripe.But that’s because the sequels (TLJ less so) primarily about getting a weak action flick and pasting Star Wars imagery and plot themes over the top.
Action focused on mundane shit you say? How about a trade dispute?
Not this shit again. Look as George Lucas has explained, The Phantom Menace, was written with children in mind. So it only makes sense that you would have a slapstick character like Jar Jar Binks, a kid pod-racing pilot with a Dorothy Hamil haircut, and a plot revolving around a trade dispute over the taxation of far-space trade routes that is actually just a cover for a Sith plot to make the Chancellor look weak and allow for the Emperor to take control of Naboo and, ultimately, the galactic senate.
There’s nothing complicated about it.
“What’s the deal with power converters?”
Scary Muppets and Space Wizards is now going to be the name of an table top RPG that I am going to write
I was thinking of developing it as a line of adult intimacy wet-wipes, but I like yours better.
Coruscant Underworld: Special Investigation Unit. 1313
Or we could just fucking let it die? Just stop doing this?
I always thought a BLAME!-inspired adventure in the depths of Coruscant would be incredible.
30 years? The tech hasn’t changed in thousands of years if you believe KOTOR.
It has – you don’t see Luke changing his light saber crystals every time he kills a guy, do you?
“The technology is all the same and hasn’t advanced much in the last 30 years (likely because all the new installments are stuck in the past or around the original trilogy)“Star Wars is Space Fantasy, not science fiction (as evidenced by the Force and the apparent laser weapons that can be deflected with fast reflexes). It’s just a universe in which to tell a story.
And, with pretty much the imagination do to anything – somehow stuck in a desert retelling 1930s Warners Bros. oaters and hoping people don’t notice.
I am with those saying get off Tatooine, but the Mandalorian was great.
So what you’re saying is you want Star Wars, but also Cheers.
Sure. Or a remake of “Dear John” set in the Star Wars universe with Judd Hirsh as a serial killer. Just no more of this Django with Lasers b.s.
Dear John with Judd Hirsch was the remake of the UK show of the same name.
Which was crazy because Judd Hirsch wasn’t even in the UK show, so calling it ‘Dear John with Judd Hirsch’ was super confusing for us Americans who just don’t get British humour.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0539696/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0539697/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0539698/
“The technology is all the same and hasn’t advanced much in the last 30 years…”Make that at least 200 years (if you only consider current canon) or 1000 years (if you also take KotOR into account).
I say it’s the original and sequel trilogies that have the planets with single land type.Books and comics are generally have much more sci-fi and storytelling than the movies.
Eff lightsabers.
To me it always looked more like a guy in a trashcan. Because that’s what it was.
To be fair, that’s what my grandmother thought my brother was for Halloween circa 1978, when he went as a home-made R2D2.
Two tickets, please! Not that I’m going with a friend, I just want to support it so much I’ll buy two tickets.
Heh, heh, heh. Y’know somethin’, he did say, “Gonk” a lot!
I’m more than fine with Waititi getting to do a new take on SW. He’s really a great choice and I’m encouraged that Disney sees his genius. That being said, that’s a monumental task for anyone to take on. “You know this thing called Star Wars? Yeah, we want you to make a Star Wars movie but not have any reference to what makes Star Wars ‘Star Warsy’ and also, it needs to make a few billion dollars. No pressure.”.
As much as I wanted to see Rian Johnson get a crack at it, I really think he’d be better suited for something that is still in the timeline, even if it’s a new story.
If the disney trilogy had left it with Kylo Ren being Han/Leia’s son with a cameo from luke, that is more than enough fan service. The one thing those movies did right was making a new cast of characters that could absolutely stand on their own without constant nods to the past. Unfortunately they burned it to the ground instead.
I would argue the “stand on their own” bit since that’s the reason Luke only had a cameo in Force Awakens. The writers knew that as soon as Luke appeared, the audience would stop giving a shit about Rey, Finn, and Kyle and only care about Luke.
Well, some of us didn’t give a shit about them either way. They were so poorly written.
well one tidbit i learned from googling around whether taika’s next movie is gonna come out or not (i remember there being some armie hammer stuff) and low and behold, they replaced hammer with will arnett and expanded the role after the fact. so i guess it’s coming out
So… a longer time ago and/or a galaxy slighter farther away?
I vote for further in the past, but closer geographically.
Isn’t that just Battlestar Galactica then?
Wow, okay. Good point.How about…..near future and super close geographically? Aw, crap, that’s Star Trek.Okay, I’m out of ideas.
More recently and a lot closer to home. Although I think Tom Cruise just released that movie.
Given how much I loved (most of) Visions, I think telling fresh stories that don’t pay much attention to canon or timelines or connections with existing narratives can be amazing. And this guy seems like the right guy for the job.
Something that struck me with Visions is that it’s not hard to sketch out a rough “future” timeline out of the shorts (albeit by accident). It’d be interesting to see if some of those ideas get revisited, a couple of them really left me wanting more.
If they did a movie based on “The 9th Jedi”, it’d be in the top 3 or 4 SW movies of all time.
How great would the 9th Jedi have been if it was the first sequel movie. The ending reveal of Luke in the armor. He is centuries old and barely even remembers who Luke was at this point.
Lumpy: The Adventure Continues
So we are getting a Moff Tarkin prequel
Can’t wait to find out what happen to Admiral Ackbar after he got exploded in the Last Jedi. Oh, it’s exactly what you expect would happen with no additional creativity or original storytelling ideas added in? I’m shocked!
I’d rather Disney let Waititi and Rian Johnson go crazy with their own original stories. Universal or someone else should back a brinks truck up to them and say “go wild”. I’m tired of this Disney retread stuff.
Pretty bored of Rian Johnson’s pastiche act, I’m more than ok with not seeing a Star Wars trilogy of his ever happening.Taika is more playful and has better collaborators. Curious to see what he comes up with.
By original stories, I don’t mean “Original star wars stories”. I mean, their original content, totally unrelated to Marvel or Star Wars. I think Johnson is great (recently rewatched the Brothers Bloom and still love that one). I’d rather he make his own thing than play in the Disney/Marvel/Star Wars sandbox.
Well, the only things really separating “Star Wars” from “Sci-Fi” is The Force (and related things like Jedi and Sith), Empire/First Order vs. Republic/freedom, specific ship designs, and specific species (wookies, ewoks, twileks). And even the second item is quite common to story telling.If Waititi makes a movie with out any of those things, is it still Star Wars? Or is it just a Sci-Fi movie (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
All I can really hope for is he tells the story of why the Force goes to sleep. Like, a story about how all the Force Sensitives in the galaxy take a deep breath after the fall of the Empire and start using the Force for mundane shit like changing the channel on the Holovid or pouring coffee… sorry, SPACE coffee, and the characters are all shiftless layabouts that cause the Force to go into a coma.But in space.
Coffee in Star Wars is called caf.
Dice are called chance cubes.
Of course a new Star Wars movie would expand the universe. What else would it do, contract it?
This is a KOTOR movie and Taika is going to voice and motion capture HK-47 isn’t he!
Man, sure would have been nice if the Sequel Trilogy did that. And no, Last Jedi did not. Having a little kid subconsciously use the Force does not “expand the universe.” Especially since “Only the Skywalkers can be Jedi” and other such horseshit was something people made up after Force Awakens.
Oh I agree. I loved that they tried to at least crack the door open to the idea that “anyone” can use the force. I just wish they had followed up on it and truly expanded the SW universe.
But that’s the thing. Last Jedi DIDN’T “crack the door open.” It’s been wide open for 40 fucking years. The notion otherwise was something people made up out of nowhere after Force Awakens.
Is this coming out after the other new sagas or before?
“If you’re making a Star Wars movie that has no connection to the previous Star Wars movies, why not just make an original sci-fi film?”Because then Star Wars will still have the same small-universe problem; the new film will just be Star Wars with the serial numbers filed off; and they’d have to waste time on setup that they wouldn’t need to in a familiar universe.
It’s the fandom that keeps the universe small. They complain about how the universe hasn’t expanded and go on about its boundless potential, but whenever they see a reference to something they’ve seen before, they go crazy for it. They’re not acting like a fandom that wants to see things expand.
“If you’re making a Star Wars movie that has no connection to the previous Star Wars movies, why not just make an original sci-fi film?”I disagree with this wholeheartedly! I think it’s the only way to keep Star Wars fresh (besides doing WAY less of it which they also need to do). Rogue One is the best post-Original Trilogy for this very reason.
Oh, Taika, Taika, Tiaka…you have no idea of the meatgrinder you just stuck your best pal into.
I’m calling it, here and now—six weeks after Waititi’s film debuts, everybody from the suits as Disney to Mary Kate Carr will be hurling spitballs at him going “How could you screw up STAR WARS’ legacy so badly?!?!??”Meanwhile, Rian Johnson just sits on his pile of KNIVES OUT money and laughs and Laughs and LAUGHS….
Go back to the beginning. Film The Skylark of Space or Lensmen with some funny names and laser swords. Get rid of all the myth and incest.
As long as it takes place after the recent movies. All the Disney+ movies take place between the movies which, yeah, usually the heroes will be fine but it’s just different when you know Obi-Wan and young Leah will be just fine.
He should direct that new Kardashian show. If the man wants a challenge….
Waititi has even been involved in The Mandalorian, which has plenty of Skywalker fingerprints on it.
Luke’s name was not mentioned once before he appeared in the last scene of the last episode of the last season of The Mandalorian. That’s “plenty of Skywalker fingerprints”?
He still was there. As was Boba Fett and a bunch of other familiar characters. I hope this time it’s an all new cast.
But the cast of Mandalorian is all new. And other than Boba Fett (who wasn’t exactly a central character to the Skywalker saga), only Bib Fortuna has appeared in the films before.I agree that The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan are threading on familiar territory just for the sake of it, but saying Mando doesn’t expand the universe either is unfair. This isn’t a Luke Skywalker story any more than Robin Hood is a Richard Lionheart story.
Well, there was also Ahsoka and Bo Katan. Basically season 2 is Mando meeting a bunch of familiar characters from movies and tv shows and then forming a team with them. It literally ends with Luke beating the bad guys for him. It really took me out of the story… And then Book of Boba Fett once again lost interest in it’s own main character, bringing in Mando and Grogu, Ahsoka, Cad Bane and, of course, goddamn CGI robot Luke Skywalker. I really want something that stands on it’s own feet, with no familiar characters. It’s a big-ass galaxy! Stop going to Tattooine and meeting characters we met already!
Ok, but this is a different criticism than “everything is focused on the Skywalkers all the time”, which is the point many are making. Yes, Star Wars can and does expand: that’s why Bo Katan and Cad Bane were created.
Not that you don’t have a point. Too many cameos can be a problem. Even if it didn’t bother me, I can see where you’re coming from with season 2, and I respect your opinion. If season 3 also has a bunch of cameos, I might change my mind. I just won’t think it’s because of a Skywalker fixation.
I for one hope it’s not a comedy, but I’m probably in the minority.
Well, for the love of god, don’t make it too funny or it will summon Ron Howard.
Hoping to see a character called Waika Taititi, who is managing to have a great time amidst a hugely oppressive regime, and despite it being a long time ago in a galaxy far away, he has a New Zealand accent.
I sort of think Abrams and Disney took some of the wrong lessons from the prequels. The force awakens , to me, did something right by having more engaging characters, but where it fell down was leaning way to hard in the aesthetic of the OT. It would have been nice to see more urban areas, new vehicles etc, for all the claims that Star Wars is just a toy commercial, the Sequels did a terrible job of trying to sell new toys.
The Die Hards gonna start a twitter campaign to put a stop to this…
“If you’re making a Star Wars movie that has no connection to the previous Star Wars movies, why not just make an original sci-fi film?”This is among the most inane comments I have ever read from a journalist.
“the Disney+ series have crammed so many new stories in the years between the trilogies that the canon is threatening to implode.”The canon is so bloated, inconsistent and contradictory, that viewers are basically forced to choose which stories are canon in their own headspace, and which are not.