Not sure what you mean... the prequels made 2.5 billion. Indy made over 800 million with an "old has been actor". Sure, there'll be diminishing returns but I'd think a new trilogy (esp if it had some of the original cast) could pull in a couple billion.

Are you actually going to argue that the prequel movies were good because they made money? I'm not one of those "Luca$ raped my childhood" types, but I am under no delusion that the prequel trilogy were good films nor were the Special Edition retrofits of the original trilogy. Put that kind of "quality" with an aging, bloated Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford and you might as well rape my childhood. I honestly can't think of a more cynical money grab than to trot these old actors out (who are about the age of the Star Trek cast when they finally retired) and have them go through the motions to satisfy some twisted need to have a story continue past its end point. I've bought Star Wars on VHS, laser disc (twice!), bootleg DVD, his bastardized versions on legit DVD (twice!!), and eventually Blu-ray. I've paid multiple admissions in theatrical exhibitions and watched it on cable and network TV. If Lucas drags those actors' tired old ragged asses out again so they can all collectively shit upon whatever affection I have left (and it is nearly drained) for these films that have been such a part of my life for over 30 years then I will burn each and every item I have ever purchased from George Lucas and will finally be done with it.

By all means, enjoy the books and comics, play the games, watch the cartoons. But they've demonstrated three straight times that there's not a chance in hell that Lucas and crew would ever be able to actually make another decent movie out of this material. Even if they did adapt one of those vaunted post Jedi books (Thrawn, Dark Empire), the geeks that he's making the film for would never be satisfied and whine over every slightest alteration and adaptation like they do with any geek-interest film (see criticisms of Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, Watchmen, etc.)

My favorite character since I was 8 was Darth Vader, who is now a whiny little shit making awkward woo to a Barbie doll while riding a giant walrus bug. Leave Luke, Leia and Han the hell alone.

Transformers 2 made a shit load of money last summer, so we can't judge a movie on its merits by its box office gross

I think a new SW trilogy would not yield nearly what the Prequels did, simply because:
Episdoe I: Fool me once, shame on you,
Episode II: Fool me twice shame on me,
Episode III: Fool me three times, what the fuck was I thinking that this would be any better!

I have not watched the Clone War series, nor saw the movie that came out in 2007 or 2008?? Older fans like me have moved on from SW and have gotten burned by the Prequels, so we honestly won't get fooled by Lucas again.

I think SW will always appeal to kids and thats cool with me. A new trilogy of course would make money, but there are alot of diehard fans like me that have accepted that Lucas is past is prime. Many keep waiting for that next Empire Strikes Back, and now I can honestly say 'it aint happening!'

I was replying to what I thought was an argument that new movies wouldn't make money. (still am not sure what they were trying to say) Wasn't saying anything about quality.

I think the two Clone Wars series both demonstrate that there's plenty of life left in the franchise, and plenty of stories left to tell in that universe. Genndy Tartovsky's cel animated Clone Wars micro series was an absolute treat, by somebody that loved the old movies, but had also proved his creative chops with Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory.

The new CGI series got off to a rough start, but we've now watched the first ten or so eps of the first season and we're pretty well impressed, even the Jar Jar episode was pretty funny. Again, people that grew up loving the originals, but are putting their own touches on the universe.

If George could just hand off the reins to somebody else, someone that loved the OT and only wanted a chance to play in that sandbox, we could very well get an enjoyable new trilogy.

Actually, that seems to really fit the whole "there's only one family that matters in this entire universe" thread that runs through the movie series.

I wish George would loosen the reigns up some. But if he's not even willing to let Spielberg take a stab at episodes 7-9 then I doubt he's going to give this over to anybody else any time soon.

And I agree that the Clone Wars is decent. While it's not close to the movies (OT) I think it's far better than most of the comic book stories I've read. And it's by far the best Star Wars cartoon so far, with perhaps the exception of the animated short in the Wookie Holiday Special. But as much as I like it, I agree with milo bloom that we need to see an animated Shadows of the Empire, Dark Empire or Thrawn Trilogy. And for those worried purists would whine about any changes...then make them an animated mini series to devote enough time to cover everything.

Someone earlier mentioned the original plan for episodes 7-9. They aren't going to make them because they already did. George Lucas folded all the elements intended to be dealt with in the third trilogy into episode 6. The defeat of the Emperor and the Empire, the introduction of Luke's sister, etc. He simplified it because they realized that they weren't going to ever actually get to them and he never really had any story plus he wanted resolution. Episodes 7-9 were a pipe dream that were never seriously intended to be made. If they were made now, then they would be superfluous to the story, which became, in the telling, about Darth Vader.

All anyone has to do, to get proof that George made it up as he went along, is read this book.



You'll see how much changed from early draft to working draft to final script since there was no overarching story to match up against.

Here are some old Lucas quotes back in the day about the Sequel Trilogy. Now again, I don't think Lucas ever had anything in stone, and he changed the story every 5 minutes with each new movie, but he did talk about a grander story that he never pursued.


"There are essentially nine films in a series of three trilogies. The first trilogy is about the young Ben Kenobi and the early life of Luke's father when Luke was a little boy. This trilogy takes place some twenty years before the second trilogy which includes Star Wars and Empire. About a year or two passes between each story of the trilogy and about twenty years pass between the trilogies. The entire saga spans about fifty-five years... I won't say who survives and who doesn't, but if we are ever able to link togther all three, you'd find the story progresses in a very logical fashion."

- George Lucas to Alan Arnold, 1979, Once Upon A Galaxy

The last three episodes involve the rebuilding of the Republic.
Only two of the main characters will appear in all nine films, & they are the robots, Artoo-Detoo & Threepio. Says Lucas: "In effect, the story will be told through their eyes."

- Time Magazine, May 1980

"There are six hours of events before Star Wars, & in those six hours the 'Other' becomes apparent, & after the third film the 'Other' becomes apparent quite a bit."

- George Lucas to Rolling Stone, June 1980

The sequels, the three films that would follow Jedi, are considerably vaguer. Their main theme will be the necessity for moral choices & the wisdom needed to distinguish right from wrong.

- Time Magazine, May 1983

But he has only a vague notion of what will happen in the three films of the sequel… In the sequel Luke would be a sixty-year-old Jedi knight. Han Solo and Leia would be together… The sequel focuses mainly on Luke, and Lucas says Mark Hamill will have first crack at the part if he is old enough. "If the first trilogy is social and political and talks about how society evolves," Lucas says, "Star Wars is more about personal growth and self realization, and the third deals with moral and philosophical problems... The sequel is about Jedi knighthood, justice, confrontation, and passing on what you have learned."

- George Lucas to Denise Worrell, 1983, ICONS: Intimate Portraits

"The Other" from ESB was always supposed to be Luke's twin sister. But this twin sister wasn't supposed to be Leia, who was pretty obviously being set up as a romantic interest for Luke Skywalker.

Then, at some point, between ESB and ROTJ, Lucas decided to close up that plot thread and made Leia the twin sister.

It is interesting reading the old scripts; the "Star Wars" story was in a constant state of flux before filming began. The first draft of "Star Wars," aside from some names and a scene or two, is nothing like the film that came out in 1977. Nothing has ever been set in stone, you can even see this in ROTS, when you can tell Lucas had no idea how to deal with the "Force ghosts," and resolved that issue with a couple of throwaway lines of dialog.

You can, however, see a lot of story beats in those early scripts, such as the idea of a familial saga, and father-son relationships, that played out in later films.

There was also mention of this in the "The Creative Impulse" hard cover book that came with the Definitive Laser disc colllection in 1992. It's on page 42.