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Sunday, April 27, 2014

Star Wars 7 -updates, thoughts, ramblings

Man, Vader's got good taste in books!


Some of you may know I'm a Star Wars geek...if you've read my blog you may have seen my Star Wars related posts (all of which are downright hilarious if I do say so myself)


The future of Star Wars -Star Wars VII 

Ten most annoying Star Wars characters. Ever. 


Star Wars 7; stop the nonsense 


A Jedi's Lament...part I 


Top five youtube videos supporting my disdain for the Star Wars prequels 


Yes, this is Star Wars related -ThinkGeek.com -funny stuff! 


Now that you're done reading all those gems, I thought I'd continue sharing my thoughts on the upcoming film.

Here is what we know:


Damn near nothing.

We know, from the StarWars.com news page that the release date (at the moment) is December 18, 2015.  From the site: (Feel free to skip right over this...)


"With pre-production in full-swing, a confirmed release date of December 18, 2015, has been set for Lucasfilm's highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII.
"We're very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture," said Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.
Star Wars: Episode VII will be directed by J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek) and is being scripted by Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi). Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, with Tommy Harper (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Jack Ryan, Star Trek Into Darkness) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds) serving as executive producers. John Williams is returning to score Star Wars: Episode VII.
Shooting is scheduled to begin spring 2014 at Pinewood Studios."

 Actually, according to Alan Horn, the big cheese at Walt Disney Studios, filming is already underway.

As far as casting...according to this news report Chewbacca has been cast by the actor who has played him since the originals, Peter Mayhew


I'm not sure how I feel about Chewbacca being in the re-load of Star Wars.  I was hoping J.J. Abrams would move away from all the fuzzy, annoying and outdated characters (essentially the entire original cast) and on to characters with more depth and interest.

The IMDB page has (sadly) many of the original cast members listed...




...but fortunately their status remains rumored.

Think about Star Trek under J.J. Abrams's wing.  Did we see a bloated Bill Shatner squeeze into an Enterprise uniform? No!


  or an ancient looking Walter Koenig (Chekov)? No!



So why would we try and throw Mark Hammil (looking more alien than human)




or Carrie Fisher, a far cry from her days as Jabba the Hutt's palace slave girl, in the mix?





All I'm saying is that I fear for the film when I hear the rumors about casting members of the original cast.  We need to, as that insanely popular Disney flick, Frozen, character sings, Let it go!

In J.J I trust

My worries are quieted somewhat now that J.J. Abrams is at the helm.  I believe he is setting himself up as the next uber-power director in Hollywood a-la Stephen Spielberg.  He nailed it with Star Trek so why wouldn't he nail it with Star Wars?  Disney?

lets hope Disney doesn't try to shove too many kid friendly characters into the mix making it just plain annoying.

There was also some question as to whether the film would follow the Expanded Universe stuff (more on the EU below).  The Answer is no. (source article below)


So, will the old characters be in episode 7?  What do you think?

My answer: God, I hope not.
----------------

One thing I did discover was something called the Star Wars Expanded Universe (I'm a fan of the movies...depending on which ones we're talking about -these guys are hard-core!) which is HUGE and quite amazing.  Read more about it HERE or watch the video at the bottom.

Source articles: 
Star Wars: Episode 7 -What we know so far Cinemablend.com
StarWars.com Episode VII news
Star Wars films 'not beholden' to Expanded Universe


Other cool related sites:
http://www.theforce.net/
https://www.facebook.com/starwarsrocksmyworld
http://www.jedinet.com/
http://www.starwarsreport.com/

Fan Site listing:
http://starwars.com/connect/fan-sites/

Fan sites...wookieepedia LOL



Interesting video about the Star Wars Expanded universe.





If you write an awesome Star Wars blog, tell me!  I'd love to hear about it.

2 comments:

  1. Well they're in it. And I'm excited.
    I don't think that any of the old characters will be as involved at the helm, except for Han Solo, I think they will be the master Yodas for the new generation of legends. Their experience could offer deep guidance and after they're done with that, we won't see them much. It will be like the passing of the torch. The story will feel like it's continuing, and they will hopefully craft it in a way we will accept. The most effective and touching way to do it would be to show them retiring their jobs over to their kids. And we will feel even more connected to the main characters, possibly even before we really know them.
    What I'm mostly worried about is being unable to go, or being crushed in line!

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