zippyjuan

Last Updated: Tuesday, 26 April, 2005, 10:42 GMT 11:42 UK

Star Wars to become new TV series

Ewan McGregor returns as Obi Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith
Two Star Wars TV series will follow the latest movie in the hit film franchise, director George Lucas has said.
Animated show Clone Wars, currently broadcast as three-minute episodes, will become "a 3D animated" series of 30-minute shows, he said.

It would be followed by a live-action series featuring characters from the six Star Wars movies, he added.

"We're probably not going to start that for about a year," he told a Star Wars convention in Indianapolis.

'Step away'

The latest Star Wars film, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, is released in most countries on 19 May.

The Clone Wars "micro-series" has had 25 three-minute episodes on Cartoon Network, taking the story up to Revenge of the Sith.

Mr Lucas told the Celebration III convention the live action TV series would be similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark spin-off The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

"Like on The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, we want to write all the stories for the entire first season all at once," he said.


Star Wars creator George Lucas said the sixth film would be the last
"I'm going to get it started, and hire the show runners and all of that, then I'll probably step away."

He said the live action series would feature stories taking place between movie episodes three and four - Revenge of the Sith and the original 1977 Star Wars movie.

Lucas said he "never considered" extending the Stars Wars story beyond episode six - Return of the Jedi.

"To be very honest with you, I never ever thought of anything that happened beyond episode six," he said.

"It's the Darth Vader story. It starts with him being a young boy and it ends with him dying. I never ever really considered ever taking that particular story further."

Mr Lucas said the live action series would feature some existing Star Wars characters - but would not elaborate.

"There's a lot of issues that are connected, but you won't necessarily see a lot of the people that are connected," he said.

Empire favourite

No broadcast dates for either series have been announced.

More than 30,000 fans attended the convention. Away from Star Wars, Mr Lucas added a fourth Indiana Jones movie was "definitely in the works".

Meanwhile, The Empire Strikes Back has been named the favourite Star Wars movie in a poll of more than 40,000 readers of film magazine Empire.

Han Solo was voted the favourite hero, Chewbacca was top alien and X-wing pilot Wedge Antilles was favourite minor character.

Jane83

make it stop!!!!!!!
no more star wars!!!!!

attgig

oh no..... i'm worried of what it's going to turn out to be.

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gear02

Lucas milking the cashcow until it becomes emanciated...

BigJon

I dunno...sounds interesting.

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Gothic Girl

No, I don't think this will be good. He should make episodes 7, 8, and 9, then stop. No tv shows.

TofuNinja

7? 8? 9? ummm just read the books. The Rogue Squadron and New Jedi Order stories are great. There is WAY too much out there book wise to even consider grouping it into three more movies.

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GraingerGuy

Well, the cartoon ones are pretty good I thought. Maybe this will be good also?

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-Welfareloser
4/13/05

Time to switch to AMD now I guess... (just kidding... )
-Darkfury
5/23/05

I don't think this'll stop anything though - the better you idiot-proof a system, the more impressive the idiot becomes.
-ShawnLee
5/30/08

eSDee

If Episode 3 sucks as bad as 1 and 2, then I think Lucas should be forced to stop making any kind of movies and or tv shows. He has lost it, in my opinion.

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SolidSnake

what sd didn't like episode 1 and 2? ...man I'm a die hard sw fan and the epilogue of the saga is really cool, like leia starts developing jedi powers like luke , and stuff and more stuff... it would be great, if he didn't go on he would waste the chance of getting mo' money ... (info given here explained in comic books/books)

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Merlin

You mean like having the Ewok Adventure every week. Most movies really lose something when distilled down into a tv show. My gut tells me they would suck. But I'm so conditioned that I would watch it.

I don't think that is it. He is a billionaire afterall.

The guy already has so much money and resources at his disposal that nobody can make him stop. I agree with you that the last two movies were not up to par but they still made major bank. As long as the movies make lots of money - and let's face it, they will - nobody is going to want him to stop.

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Jeffbx

Amen to that, brother.

Lucas lost his touch, oh, right after he made The Empire Strikes Back. Now, if he would just hand off the entire project to someone else, I could get behind it. The storyline is good, but his execution absolutely sucks. It takes exactly *one* muppet to ruin a good sci-fi movie.

I think the reason the movies are so successful is that there is a dedicated, loyal following that can't admit to themselves that the recent movies blow monkey chunks. They're bad, folks. It's OK to admit it. Maybe the Sci-Fi Gods will be smiling down on us and allow The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy to be a good movie. It's a long shot, but it could happen.

welfareloser

quoatable!!!

i was able to ignore the bad and really enjoy episode ii. episode i... damn. why the guy HAD to make anakin freakin 7 years old (or whatever) is beyond me. it woulda been much better had he been at least 13. and yeah... jarjar was as dumb as the ewoks. it was still oaky, tho, i can forgive lucas for being old and crazy... the podrace was awesome. the droids coming out of their huge clown-car. that movie gets ripped off so often... i, robot... anyway. lots of good eye candy. shooting in an actual 15th (i think) century italian palazzo was genius. stunning.

worst part of ep i: MITICLORIANS. omg, could he have done anything lamer than anakin-as-immaculate-conception-by-force-parasites?!?!??!?!?! leaving it unexplained would have been SO much more elegant.

i think episode iii is going to be awesome

and yeah... i have those two old ewoks made-for-tv movies on dvd. damn. bad, bad stuff. but so good when i was... what? 7? and my 5-year-old likes em ... so... i'd go ahead and watch a star wars tv series, and i bet it'll be better than the ewok stuff, just because i bet it'll have a pretty decent budget; big tv budgets didn't exist in the early 80s, but nowadays even ER costs over $1mil per episode. and the cartoon network cartoons were pretty durned good.

oh, and yes... hayden christenson is hot. and he has long hair in ep iii

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gear02

Well, it's obvious he's not trying to preserve his beloved franchise from becoming watered down, like Star Trek has become.

If you see the sheer number of crappy toys, crappy video games, and now fairly crappy movies, he's definately for the money at the expense of the quality of the genre. Maybe people have strong feelings for this universe and seeing it torn down brick by brick may be too much.

And being a billionaire doesn't stop people from making more money. See the Waltons.

TofuNinja

Read the books...... If you are after storylines read all the books. Start with Cloak of Desception, Darth Maul, Jedi Apprentice Series, EP1, Jedi Quest Series, Rogue Planet, The Approaching Storm, EP2, then there is a whole slew of books and comics......

I am not sure why people are sooooo against reading. It was because I read all the books that I was able to enjoy the movies. I was disappointed for different reasons than most (parts from the book left out of movie) but I understood what was going on when Lucas left something out.

But than again that is the biggest problem Lucas has to face imho. The books for the original trilogy were all short and sweet. The novels now are huge and detailed. Plus add in that most people refuse to read or don't have the time to read..... Lucus has to bridge a gap that is hard to bridge. Mainly he has to make a movie that covers everything that non book readers missed in the books and do it in a short period of time (2-3 hour movie). With the Clone Wars there was a lot that happened.

Jeffbx

I have no issue with the story or reading the books - hell, I get way more out of reading a book than watching a movie.

It's Lucas' interpretation between the book & the movie screen that I take issue with. I just get the impression that he's doing these movies all on his own & not getting any creative input from anyone else - hence, we're stuck watching his interpretation of the story.

Of course it's not ALL bad - some things were done brilliantly (Jabba the hut, the pod race, the robotic animations). But there were some REAL boneheaded things - the Ewoks, Jar-Jar (what, is it Saturday morning cartoons here??) the weirdness that was Young Anakin, etc. I think he just needs to pass the torch on to someone who can present the story better... give it to David Lynch - he was able to take Dune & make a presentable movie out of that epic novel.

doolittle

Empire was Directed by Irvin Kershner. nuff said

TofuNinja

Yeah passing the torch is easier said than done.... I think that this is Lucus' baby and he wants to make sure it is done his way.... good or bad...... I think if he passed the torch he'd nag and bug the new person so much that that person would end up quitting and Lucus would just take over again.....

Kinda like Gilmore Girls last night with Luke in Sooki's kitchen at the Inn ahhahaha

OH A SIDE NOTE: I like to push for reading books. Most of the time if they are a movie the books are better. One of my friends irks me all the time because he bitches and moans about how sucky a movie was (Timeline, Star Wars EP1 or 2) etc. And whenI tell him that the book is better he just moans more, "I don't want to read... that is why God invented movies.... so we didn't have to read" I just tell him to STFU and live with the sucky movies if he ain't gonna read..... sigh

Booyamos

http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3

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SolidSnake

LOL Nice Comic strip

ArkiStan

George is acting like Michael Jordan. He just doesn't know how to leave on a high note and takes it too far. Well, now that I think about it, he wouldn't have made Return of the Jedi if he wanted to do that....I just hope he will redeem himself somewhat with the Sith movie.

TofuNinja

gee I think people are just being picky.... I actually enjoyed all the movies. Yes Jar Jar sucked. Yes ESB is my fav.... but overall when you put all six together they are pretty good compared to what is out there today..... also when you add in all the books and comics..... WOW Star Wars Rules......

And I think it would have been more of a crime to NOT have made RotJ and left us hanging with just finding out that Vader is Luke's father..... and I personally don't see what was so bad with RotJ. Oh well to each their own.... sigh