AnonMC

I voted Alora, but I second Han and Leia or Mara would have been interesting, just to provide a lighthearted break from the main storyline. Plus, with Han or Leia, it would have meant that we would have a nice model for them now in the game.

What ever happened to SJC anyway?

Life and family, and 3D modeling for work as well as hobby projects with a more versatile approach.

Could this be related to the new, HTTPS Chrome bullshit/censorship? I'm looking at that crossed out HTTPS indicator in the address bar.

The other movie Lucas has produced and released since selling the company, Strange Magic, is also quite innovative and a lot of fun. The marketing for it (done by Disney) was dismal. That also happened before the shooting of this interview. Since then, Strange Magic is becoming somewhat of a cult classic.

Off topic, Red Tails is actually a pretty decent movie

Yep, a solid air-war movie, and both Lucas and Spielberg know that. Hence Lucas' bitterness directed towards Hollywood corporations/publishers (a.k.a "white slavers"). They'd rather redo the same story a hundred times, abuse it, repackage it and sell it than actually invest in and promote a brand new, quality film that is trying something different.

The movie has a lot of memorable characters. I loved Easy's drama/story, and I love Smokey as a character. Also, their all-faith major (Cuba Gooding Jr.) was quite interesting. And, of course, Terrence Howard delivered a solid performance as the colonel.

The air-fight scenes were spectacular.

Just curious, how many people have actually watched the whole length of this infamous interview since it was released, three years ago?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jWtbJxzGpQ

Three years later, after he had been heavily attacked by the media following this, it appears to me that George is being completely sincere here (as he felt he had nothing to lose), and he explains here why he made the decision to sell Lucasfilm and Star Wars -- a heartbreaking but morally responsible decision if there ever was one.

It also offers a good glimpse into how today's movie business operates and why the quality of new movies produced is on a constant decline (as well as a glimpse into Disney's movie business logic).

Also worth pointing out that Lucas had recently wrapped up working on Red Tails when this interview took place, an all-black movie that was poorly received by Hollywood, hence why he felt inclined to use the metaphor of "white slavers" -- which, while harsh, IMHO, is not entirely inappropriate, and valid criticism, especially now that we've seen what Disney has been doing with the world of Star Wars.

I urge anyone who hasn't watched the full interview to do so, if you are interested in the future of both the movie biz and Star Wars.

It is also worth mentioning that Steven Spielberg, the creator of the blockbuster, has similar thoughts and predictions about the current state of Hollywood.

Want some oil for that fire? I've never even heard of this movie!

 

(don't take it as an argument though, I kind of live under a rock)

Definitely worth a look if you like animated feature films -- it has many twists and it's different from what Disney always produces (a little akin to the effect of watching The Lion King for the first time). Personally, I found it inspiring.

And, yeah, it's no surprise that you've never heard of it -- the marketing for this movie (done by Disney) was dismal. We only hear about what big publishers/corporations want us to hear about.

I remember seeing the poster back in the day and it completely putting me off from watching the movie -- it was simply too grotesque and cliche.

An interesting interview with Lucas that goes beyond talking about Strange Magic, and into the current state of the movie biz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNFh5hiO01Q

For those who don't know, George has been working on other projects since, such as building a museum (in parts collaborating with Spielberg).

Oh, also, I've noticed a peculiar chance pattern: every time Disney "revives" a particular Star Wars content, it's the beginning of its end.

The Force Awakens and the sequel trilogy was to "revive" the OT era and characters -- instead it killed it/them off, quite literally, bringing things to a(n unsatisfactory) close.

Rogue One was to revive the flame for A New Hope and the OT -- instead it messed with its opening, killing some of its magic, and providing nothing lasting to make new stories from.

Solo was to bring back Han Solo's character and story into the spotlight -- instead it made him look insignificant and sink.

Now The Clone Wars...

Is really no-one else getting a bad feeling about this?

This is becoming an essay of my own now so I am going to wrap up, but I hope the above shows an entirely different explanation behind Disney's decisions - and ones that I find to be more practical and realistic than the idea that is part of a Machiavellian-style scheme to turn the fans against the prequel/Lucas era.

It is not entirely different. In fact, it states many of the same points I have made (I have never denied that profits are the driving factor in the decision-making process), except for putting more faith into Disney's flexibility as a company. Let's be honest, though, Hollywood is anything but creatively flexible. It relies on templates time and time again. And what the Disney management is trying hardest to do, now -- so far completely unsuccessfully -- is to fit Star Wars, an age-old template into a new-age one -- essentially, to turn an epic into a comic book.

The notion that corporations are trying to control their consumers is nothing new, and Disney has been a company to do that since its original creation. If you want, I can give you conrete examples where the company has sought to steal, cheat, manipulate, and politically and legally silence to further their own agenda, save their profits, and change public perception.

The Disney Vault is also a simple marketing example of psychological consumer demand control.

Furthermore, I can give you evidence of "Machiavellian-style" audience manipulation is Disney's classic movie range as well, by comparing the movies to their source material -- but that will pretty much change your perception of Disney forever, and potentially ruin a part of your childhood (which I feel is too much responsibility for me to bear). You are free to do your own research if you like.

Also, while my research reaches an independent conclusion based on well gathered data as evidence, you can't deny that at least in part it makes good sense. To shun it as "speculation" does it injustice. Everyone is free to draw up their own conclusions from it, but, yes, I firmly believe that my insight and predictions are very close to what is actually happening within the company, and what is likely to happen going forward.

We have a wealth of evidence that changing the plan is precisely what Disney is willing to do - the Rogue One reshoots and the replacement of the original Solo directors with Ron Howard are two well-documented examples of the company willing to make radical (and expensive) changes in the name of delivering a good final product.

Note that this is factually wrong. The firing of the original Solo directos, Chris Miller and Phil Lord, was prompted due to the directors doing what they do best: artistically improvising. In other words, their style of work did not fit Disney's rigid expectations and template. Disney was not being flexible, here, at all, and the action was not done to improve on the final product, but rather to make it more predictable: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/han-solo-directors-fired-reason-2017-6

If Disney is all about the bottom-line and creating their own universe at the expense of the old, they are not going to throw several million $ at a project set during an era they are apparently trying to eradicate just to keep one man happy. Especially when they have a separate show coming up (Resistance) set entirely in their new world, with their new characters, etc that requires resources, promotion and creative leadership.

They will if this means a) strenghtening relationships with a strong asset for their new steaming service (Filoni as a TV show director) going forward b) there are profitable financial returns from releasing the final season of the series c) they can throw in promotional material for Rebels and the next series into this wrap-up.

The Clone Wars was the last Star Wars content Lucas has successfully produced to his own vision, and Disney's entire creative battle plan (from the start and) going forward involves abandoning anything to do with Lucas' original themes and concepts, as is evident from the new content they've produced, and turning Star Wars into something they can produce, market, and sell more easily (something that involves less risk and less work). Make no mistake, the prequel era, as we know it, will end.

I read through/watched those sources (I have seen the KK interview before), but they just seem to reiterate what we already know about Solo and what went wrong there. I was more interested in how you are so certain that the Clone Wars has been brought back as a deliberate effort by Lucasfilm to "make that which was popular of Star Wars unpopular". I can not see any evidence for that, and bringing back the show in the first place would seem to fly directly against that idea.

Fans have been persistently asking them about if and when The Clone Wars will be brought back for years, with too many letters and petitions: https://www.change.org/p/lucasfilm-bring-star-wars-the-clone-wars-season-7-8

So, no, it doesn't go against that agenda to bring it back subpar, then let it sink. As long as the old show lives on as a wonderful thing in fans' memories, this undermines Lucasfilm's latest efforts -- which I'll expand on below.

You can see from Kathleen's responses in that video, as well as Disney's ongoing business plan for Star Wars, even in the links I've provided, that they are constantly aiming to push forward, far past the world that George Lucas has created (which, it seems, they feel to be a dead-end for some reason), and into their own, original Star Wars universe. You don't need to look too far, this is reflected in the themes and content of their movies as well. Old characters and themes die, or are presented unceremoniously, even parodied, while new ones are given the spotlight. There was strong reasoning in Disney's decision to can The Clone Wars in the first place, and to create Rebels in its place. To think that experienced Hollywood executives have suddenly changed their mind halway through a decades-long business plan is (very) naive thinking, especially since Kathleen is still openly at the head of Lucasfilm.

Although a very risky strategy, Disney has much to gain from killing off what made Star Wars once popular, starting with the cast of the original movies, as they have, first with the official sequel trilogy films, and now with the spinoff films. From what I can sensibly tell, based on my long research, they are hoping to wipe the slate clean, to lower fan expectations, and to create their own version of Star Wars, independent of, or barely linked to, the world Lucas established. The best way to do that is to build hype and make sales while producing below expected level quality content for a long period of time -- which is something that Disney can actually afford to do. This is why they are not horrified by Solo's lower than expected box-office results, and why Kathleen Kennedy is still leading full-charge at the forefront.

Star Wars, to Disney, is a long-term investment. They bought it not for the world Lucas has created, but for value of the IP itself. This is evident in Lucas' backlash at Disney shortly after the sale took place and they excluded his vision from the future of Star Wars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jWtbJxzGpQ

A decade-long production of lower-quality content that mixes the old with the new ensures that the memories of excellence are wiped, and there is room for "dazzling" with a new Star Wars, a kind that will fit the Marvel-like marketing and production scheme better, with classic superheroes and villains, and little actually deep or meaningful character and story development. This is something that their business side requires to fit things into a well-established mold and to maximally profit on the brand -- I don't think I need to cite sources for that, it's evident in any business review of the company's movie side of business.

If you take all this into account, it becomes undoubtedly evident that Disney is not faltering, but making well-calculated choices. No company that invests millions into their products does so without strategy and a well-calculated return, even if that means some financial sacrifice -- especially not a corporation of Disney's size that has been in the movie business for generations. Hence, the decisions to kill off main characters, to shove them into the background, to produce low quality content featuring them, are consciously made. After all, what is stopping Disney from featuring these characters as the heroes they are/were? With the resources at their disposal, a carefully calculated business decision.

You will not find any direct mention of this in any source, understandably, as what goes on in a company stays in a company, but the sheer evidence is overwhelming. Disney has been particularly careful not to give away anything in interviews with its directors, to keep everything related to Star Wars hush-hush (arguably in an overly careful way that their Marvel cinematic universe has not been treated).

I expect the prequel era may be brought back -- though unlikely, due to its marketing drawbacks (historical bad reception and fan backlash) -- but if it is, it will be purposefully different, with a lot of rewrites, essentially creating a new world.

All of this wouldn't be so bad if Disney actually knew what to do with Star Wars creatively, but as it is, their creative directors and storywriters so far have been at a complete loss. This is because Kathleen Kennedy and the current Lucasfilm management are no creative visionaries, but Hollywood businessmen, and there is no-one to unite the picture the way George Lucas had done in the past. A lot of ideas are thrown about, a lot experimentation happening, but no contrete experience in how to tackle the Star Wars universe/fanbase and establish new themes that will last decades.

Creatively, this is Disney's biggest problem, and something that they have created themselves by stepping away from the world Lucas has established. Their fears are particularly evident in the story treatment of the new sequel trilogy, and subsequent films like Solo, where their movie directors are kept under shackles by the sheer burden of not knowing what changes they are allowed to make, and what new stories and themes they are allowed to write into the Star Wars universe, everything kept to old templates. Disney, as an investor, is carefully experimenting because it is scared in not knowing what will work with the long-time fans, while trying to build an entirely different universe than that of George's -- all the while trying to continue making money on the franchise.

They are experimenting not only with the creative content, but also with marketing it and its impact on the fandom/audience, and in this case that means how to play with and alter long-time expectations.

So don't go rushing into thinking that the old Clone Wars has been "saved" or "revived" just yet... (Or do so with great risk...)

From Disney's perspective, this "revival" is happening for two reasons:

1. To satisfy director Dave Filoni's creative wish and to sign him on to future (Disney universe Star Wars) TV series on Disney's new direct-to-consumer service.

2. To end The Clone Wars (and the Lucas prequel era legacy) -- for good -- and make remaining fans let it go, let it fade away -- hence the huge hype for an unlikely delivery in the end product.

In simpler words, Disney's current creative direction for Star Wars content (including TCW), illustrated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lin3V-dhhNU

Certainly sounds radical. Given the level of research and digging that you have done, could you provide some sources?

This is a research spanning many years, and hundreds of sources. Which part are you interested in in particular?

Here are a few of the more credible, online articles I've collected (relating to recent events) that provide a general insight into Disney's on-going business strategy as it relates to the Star Wars brand, and its future results -- an appetiser, if you will:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-25/disney-s-star-wars-headaches-include-outcry-from-its-own-fans

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/star-wars-producer-kathleen-kennedy-next-10-years-rey-poe-finn-150456794.html (Watch the Kathleen Kennedy video interview mid-way through the webisode.)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/06/12/box-office-solo-star-wars-bomb-flop-disney-lucasfilm-incredibles2-jurassic-world/

And an honorary mention (great commentary):

https://www.thewrap.com/solo-is-failing-because-disney-had-no-vision-for-the-star-wars-franchise-commentary/

Also how is clone wars going to flop? Do you mean the quality will be bad or what? It's still filoni and he has been consistently good

I mean that the ending will be changed (Rebels-like), forced, rushed, and unsatisfying in comparison to the rest of the series. Since Filoni is directing this as well -- mind you, much of his team has changed and been disbanded after the Disney acquisition -- this will look like The Clone Wars has failed to deliver in its final chapters, effectively putting fans off the series and the prequel era. Hence the "flop".

I've done a little digging behind the scenes into Disney's current (and historic) business practices and marketing strategies. The Star Wars line has exhibited some of their worst moves -- both ethically and in terms of sustainability. (And just sheer arrogance and stupidity.)

For the intrigued, here's a short summary, made easy for you:

The fundamental internal business tagline for KK's management of Star Wars is: "Out with the old, in with the new -- our new." The idea is to make that which was popular of Star Wars unpopular, and to introduce new content in its place for a "new generation" of fans.

This is why this revival of The Clone Wars is going to flop -- no question about it. It's carefully planned. Milk it, and put an end to it -- those are the orders.

What this radical business strategy (the likes of which only a conglomerate like Disney could afford) doesn't take into account is the artistic merit that made Star Wars what it is today -- which is something that The Clone Wars team (with the assistance of George and Katie Lucas) actually carefully invested in over time, for its fans, and what made the show a fan favourite. You ignore that, you focus on the business aspects of the franchise only, and you lose the quality of the brand, slowly killing it. Which is what's actually happening throughout the franchise and all its creative content if you look around, and stop to think.

You mean they fired their main SJW? Oh thank the Force!

They haven't. That's the problem. She is still assigned to handling the latest in the Star Wars line, and even still playing a prominent role in the media in their latest announcements: https://www.starwars.com/news/jon-favreau-to-executive-produce-write-live-action-star-wars-series

They still think she's the shiz -- despite the declining sales.

This crap will go on for a long time, until they start to run out of money. In the meantime, they'll make sure to damage as much of the Star Wars brand and content as they can (and that includes The Clone Wars as well).

I think "saved" is very much the wrong word to use in the title of this thread -- an overhyped marketing catchphrase that they are promoting intentionally.

#CloneWarsToBeSlain lies closer to their actual intentions, and to the effect this will ultimately have on the series' popularity.

That's the grim future from this announcement that I foresee. But please, prove me wrong, Disney!

Gotta post it here. It's just too good:

Can you imagine this with a higher budget and feature length? I don't know what Disney is doing!

I think you guys are overestimating how much disney will interfere

We shall see.

The fact that they haven't sacked Kathleen Kennedy yet speaks volumes.

In any case, I'm not keeping my hopes up for this one. It'd be nice if we get some decent, new CW episodes, but it would also be akin to a miracle.

Definitely not supporting Disney by subscribing to their new streaming service. There are other ways... (Once a rebel, always a rebel.)

[sighs] In a perfect world...

Sorry for the necropost.

Also I would believe Vader would kept practising his skill to someday overthrow the emperor.

Consider that in the OT, Vader never had the intention to overthrow the Emperor until Luke stepped between them and the Emperor had almost killed his son. That's how much courage/motivation he needed... He said it himself: the Emperor was too powerful in his eyes.

Luke: Come with me.

Vader: Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don't know the power of the dark side! I MUST obey my master.

Luke: I will not turn. And you'll be forced to kill me.

Vader: If that is your destiny.

Luke: Search your feelings, father. You can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate.

Vader: It is... too late for me, son. The Emperor will show you the true nature of the Force. He is your master now.

Luke: [resigned] Then my father is truly dead.

Maybe he's talking about the editing, or something?

Bingo.

What? It's still filoni and disney won't change stuff around lol...

If you think the Disney producers won't have a say in the show's direction and appeal, boy are you wrong, kiddo...

Just a thought, Disney really needs to start funding Star Wars fan-film directors, and start leaving the creative decisions up to the fans:

We, fans, can't do worse than their producers and directors already have.

Extremely mixed feelings. Way too much Disney-style (and un-old-LucasArts-like) cliche in the trailer. Please don't destroy The Clone Wars, too, Disney, you merciless, heartless, savage, corporate bastard.

THAT WAS EPIC^TM!!! ...garbage! Shhhh!

Most likely, though you do have to admit, Rogue One was more-or-less true to the OT in regards to aesthetics (maybe except for some of the new Stormtroopers that were featured)

In regards to aesthetics? If you discount the tasteless digi-remakes, yes. Story-wise and character development-wise? Far from it.

Then again, miracles have happened

Despite what Walt's optimism says, not with the current Disney management around.

This is what I imagine the fight was like, when you think about how Anakin/Vader was feeling, he was fighting a man he hated so there was no way he'd have given a simple 'fencing fight' but we know this was down to limitations at the time.

Yeah but to be fair this could be interepreted in a way that Vader remembered how dangerous Obi-Wan could be especially when Vader gives into his anger too much like he did on Mustafar and make mistakes. So we have a more careful and collected Vader fighting Obi-Wan and attacking him with cautious swings.

Does everyone forget that neither of these characters has actually wielded a lightsaber for over a decade? Wouldn't you get rusty, too, and be more cautious? After all:

Governor Tarkin to Vader: "The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion."

Holy crap is right! What a great concept and execution! Methinks Disney/Lucasfilm should be paying more attention and budget into fanmade films than their own sorry selection of official movies.