I am not one to write often, and even more seldom at length. Certain recent events, though, make this a worthy occasion for doing such.
George Lucas caused quite the ruckus both in “The Business” and on the Internet this past Tuesday, the 30th of October, 2012, when he made the monumental announcement that a deal had been struck to sell his film production company, LucasFilm Ltd., and other associated businesses, to the Walt Disney Company for the seemingly astronomical sum of $4.05 billion―$2 billion in cash, and the balance in Disney stock. He will also be retiring. On the heels of that came the bombshell that the fabled-but-long-since-rejected Star Wars Episodes VII, VIII, and IX would actually be made, under the management of Kathleen Kennedy, Lucas’s handpicked successor at LFL, as would other undisclosed Star Wars projects.
People have clamored for new Star Wars content since the release of the original blockbuster back in 1977. Now it seems their wish is being granted in perpetuity. One would think there would be nothing but rejoicing in the streets, on ubiquitous social media, and in the myriad Internet chat rooms devoted to the discussion of such things. But all is not well. The promise of new projects seems to be a pyrrhic victory to some, and even a cause for consternation to others. The former say it won’t be the same without Mr. Lucas at the helm, and the latter would rather the series be over and done with for a variety of reasons: there’s nothing left worth telling, new plots will likely overwrite existing Expanded Universe material, continuity….
