When I saw this headline pop up over at Game Informer News, I had to check the calendar.
No, it is not April 1st.
Maybe this is some sort of “Devil’s Night” prank?
And it has been a long time indeed…
But the news seems to be popping up everywhere except The Onion.
What can this portend? I can hear a million sighs of relief as George “The Destroyer” Lucas is out of the picture. The quote:
“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” Lucasfilm CEO George Lucas said in a statement. “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.”
But is Disney a step in the right direction? Is Star Wars even a Disney-like property? I thought Disney required kids with single dads and dead mothers, not kids with single moms and no dads. And what will we get with a Star Wars Episode VII release in 2015?
The future looks… weird.
Now what is the best follow-on rumor to start right about now while people are stunned… the return of Star Wars Galaxies maybe?
And in what freaking order am I going to have to watch the movies after Episode VII comes out?
Hrmmm…
Anyway, how are you taking the news?
The Ancient Gaming Noob 
But is it an episode VII release or more Clone Wars cartoon type stuff? I’m expecting the latter, hoping for the former. Honestly don’t think it can get any worse than the prequels—I’m happy future entries will not be the sole product of Lucas’s mind, and I did not HATE the cartoon movie, but it’s clearly not intended for the first generation of Star Wars fans.
PS When I posted this elsewhere, I also noted it’s not April 1st
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Hello – follow the $$$
REBOOT
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Oh, and the order is you still watch IV, V, and parts of VI and leave the rest to your kids.
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I think Lucas is doing this just to screw with us.
Like setting his land aside for low income housing to piss off his neighbors, now he’ll be all, “Okay fan boys, you thought my vision was bad? Well have fun with Disney at the helm!”
This could potentially be the most lucrative dick move in history.
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Disney bought Marvel in 2009 and there was a lot of angst about the future but as far as I can tell it’s gone pretty well. Certainly the quality of movies spun out of Marvel properties has never been higher.
As for Disney vs LucasArts, with the sole exception of the original Star Wars movie, nothing that organization has ever produced would match up to even the most middling Disney effort. Disney has always meant Quality to me; even at the low-point of their aesthetic fortunes around the time of The Fox and The Hound, their output never slipped below “competent”, and for most of the last three-quarters of a century the standard has been “excellent” or better.
I can’t see how this can be anything other than unalloyed good news for anyone with the slightest affection for the Star Wars universe and characters.
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@Bhagpuss – Disney’s reputation with a lot of people is that of somewhat edgy and gruesome stories toned down to the point that toddlers can enjoy them. That is great if you have toddlers or fond memories of being a toddler.
But for Star Wars? I think the argument about Han shooting first would go away, to be replaced with Greedo getting knocked out by Chewbacca wielding a large wooden mallet.
Anyway, a lot of Pixar people are at Disney now, so it could very well be good news. I am mostly trying to stir up the purists. I actually don’t mind episodes I-III, and have said as much before.
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Disney owns Pixar. Imagine a Pixar-produced Star Wars movie or animated series.
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@Alikchi – Yeah, missed you in the cross comments, but I was going for the same point. I’m just being silly.
I am waiting for some anti-trust lawsuit though, as Disney now owns the majority of many people’s childhood memories. Can we trust one corporation with so much power?
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Thank you, Nostalgia Critic, for summing up my reaction so very well.
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Well, it certainly isn’t ideal, but let’s bring the world of Science Fiction to the imagination of disney children! I’m sure that this will soon bring about a much better reason to visit Disneyland than those silly princesses.
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@mmorpgmentor – Ah, but now Disney has another princess, don’t they?
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Yeah, Disney has some house brands for PG-13 or worse I think…
Maybe the people will win?
http://peoplevsgeorge.com/
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A friend’s comment was “prepare yourself for Pirates of Corellia”
My response: “I will as soon as I see a trailer for X-men of the Caribbean”
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I’m guessing that Disney have dropped any plans for John Carter as their flagship science fantasy franchise then :)
On the other hand, as has already been pointed out, Disney own Marvel. Joss Whedon to make the next Star Wars movie could be interesting, after all you know for sure that Mal Reynolds would have shot first! :)
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I couldn’t care less about Star Wars (loved the original three when I was a little kid, but I’m not really much of a one for nostalgia), but surely you’d have to look at what Disney has released from Marvel Studios (The Avengers, anyone?) and conclude that they’ve got a pretty good shot at making much better Star Wars films than Lucas has managed in recent decades.
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Frankly, I don’t care if they ever release another SW film. Episodes 1-3 pretty much took care of all the fond memories I had of Episodes 4-6.
I think SWTOR cracked Lucas once and for all. Now, if only your rumor were true and Disney renewed the license with SOE for SWG. THAT would make me happy.
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Folks hear “Disney” and think only Mickey Mouse and animated or family fare.
Truth is, Disney owns a lot a wide variety of properties, including Marvel and ESPN. For many years, Miramax and Dimension Films were under the Disney label, as well – not exactly what you’d call toddler or family films.
This is a big step up for the Star Wars franchise, which has been failing under the one-trick pony, George Lucas.
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I have to go with John Scalzi’s take on it: http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/10/30/quick-thoughts-on-disney-buying-lucasfilm/
Who knows? With George out of the picture, they might hire decent writers and a director who doesn’t have a talent for making good actors look bad.
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I await with interest the announcement that SWTOR’s getting canned because there’s not room for 2 Star Wars MMO and Disney want to make a new one.
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In the meantime I simply want a restored un-‘enhanced’ unchanged original three films – Episodes 4 – 6. George Lucas raped my childhood with his revisions of the originals and the abominations of 1 – 3. I may not be able to erase the prequels from history, but at least give me back the Star Wars I loved from my childhood.
YOU _SUCK_ LUCAS! Stop defiling Star Wars! Just step away permanently (he’ll still be a ‘creative advisor’ to Star Wars property), and if nothing else, do _no more damage_.
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@Stabs – That would require SW:TOR having someone still playing it by the time Disney makes a new SW MMO, and I think EAWare are progressing nicely to ‘solve’ that problem.
Get your hotbars! Fresh hot hotbars! Get your hotbars here!
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For me Star Wars couldn’t get much worse. Now there is chance some decent writers could be turned loose on the next movie, and it might be something I consider worth watching. Of course it might be an origin story for Jar-Jar Binks and the Ewoks, but that seems unlikely.
So, overall probably good news, but time will tell.
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I am going to have to post the “other” comments on the poll. I clearly did not cover the range of emotions with my quickly generated poll.
If it gets me a film version of Heir to Empire I will be happy I suppose.
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