Star Wars: Underworld Live Action TV Series begins casting/ Sitcom coming too?

[Biyobi]

4. It gets really annoying how stupid the Jedi are.  Week after week they do stupid things, are arrogant, are shortsighted, etc.  Heck you start to feel they deserve to be wiped out. 

Skipping your other points, I believe this is actually a major motif in the new trilogy. The Jedi Order has become convoluted, ritualistic, ineffective and blind. The new trilogy points these things out in some subtle and some less subtle ways, for example through the fact that they are unable to see Palpatine's plot under their very nose. They don't even allow their Jedi to love, which turns out to be a pointless and even dangerous (look at Anakin) gesture. Their prophecy says that Anakin will bring balance to the Force, but they don't realize that it will be through wiping out the Jedi Order (through Anakin) and then rebuilding it from scratch (through Luke) with new and improved ideals.

You carried the balance too far forward until it was out of balance again.  Vader/Palpatine vs. Obi-Wan/Yoda = balance.  Luke f'ed everything up again.

[metallicorphan]

Star Wars live action TV series put on hold because of...wait for it......financial reasons
http://widetrends.com/george-lucas-star-wars-live-action-on-hold-fund/

George Lucas has put plans for Star Wars live action TV series based on the legendary sci-fi franchise “on hold” because of financial issues, the Star Wars creator announced. Lucas, 66, announced plans for a small screen Star Wars Spin-Off back in 2005 and, after a long hiatus spent writing scripts, he began casting actors for the show last year (2009).

But, according to the director George Lucas, the anticipated Stars TV show may be on hold, possibly forever!

But now Lucas says they may not be able to pull off the show with the money available for such a TV show:

    “The live action TV show is kind of on hold because we have scripts, but we don’t know how to do them. They literally are Star Wars, only we’re going to have to try to do them at a tenth the cost. And it’s a huge challenge, a lot bigger than what we thought it was gonna be.”

for someone who apparently financed the prequel trilogy,i am pretty shocked that this is the reason why the TV series is put on hold(especially as he owns ILM his own special effects team)...maybe the prequel trilogy lost money(as he has never disclosed how much they cost to film)and he has learnt his lesson




either way,i was quite looking forward to this..or at least i was gonna watch it

[Wargus]

He's 66 - maybe we'll get lucky and he'll decide its time to turn over the ip to somebody who knows what they are doing.

[Caine]

if bsg can film a sci fi series and make it look believable, then why not lucas?  too much cgi i think.

[TK-421]

I'd rather live without a Star Wars TV show at all rather then end up with something like CSI: Bespin in an effort to save money.

[cheeba]

for someone who apparently financed the prequel trilogy,i am pretty shocked that this is the reason why the TV series is put on hold(especially as he owns ILM his own special effects team)...maybe the prequel trilogy lost money(as he has never disclosed how much they cost to film)and he has learnt his lesson

There's no way in hell the prequels lost money. If I remember correctly, The Phantom Menace didn't even have much of an advertising budget. The merchandising alone would have no doubt made them profitable.

According to this website
Phantom Menace - $924 million worldwide gross
Attack of the Clones - $649 million
Revenge of the Sith - $849 million

They had to have turned a profit.

[Kevin Grey]

I think the upper range of a TV budget for Star Wars is probably $3-4 million an episode.  Considering the prequels cost $100+ million, it doesn't surprise me that Lucas is having a hard time.  Not saying it's impossible (shows like BSG, Firefly, and Farscape show that fantastic looking sci-fi can be done on a TV budget) but Lucas really needs to hire a production crew and showrunner with experience working on the timeframe and budgets that TV requires and so far Lucas doesn't seem interested in that. 

[TiLT]

Lucas has always been a perfectionist (which is ironic since he doesn't create perfection) when it comes to his vision, so this doesn't really surprise me. It does disappoint me though. That Lucas would be willing to ditch an entire series instead of reducing its quality (in his eyes) just confirms everything I've heard about him.

[Bullwinkle]

I think the upper range of a TV budget for Star Wars is probably $3-4 million an episode.  Considering the prequels cost $100+ million, it doesn't surprise me that Lucas is having a hard time.  Not saying it's impossible (shows like BSG, Firefly, and Farscape show that fantastic looking sci-fi can be done on a TV budget) but Lucas really needs to hire a production crew and showrunner with experience working on the timeframe and budgets that TV requires and so far Lucas doesn't seem interested in that. 

But a lot of the stuff they need already exists.  And with shows like this, you create as you go.  They'd need a big hunk of cash for the pilot, but then you just repurpose elements and add one or two new ones from there.

I think this is just a play for more financing.

[Kevin Grey]

But a lot of the stuff they need already exists.  And with shows like this, you create as you go.  They'd need a big hunk of cash for the pilot, but then you just repurpose elements and add one or two new ones from there.

Right but I don't think that's the way Lucas was plan on making it.  IIRC, he had planned to shoot all 22 episodes of the first season and only then shop for a network.  Which is pretty much completely the opposite of how most TV is done and tells me that Lucas has no plans to try and do it in a conventional manner.  

[CeeKay]

no TV show until they figure out a cheaper way to make it.

G4TV: Switching gears just slightly, it was about a year ago that you said the live action Star Wars show was going to be on hold. Where is the show now? Where does it stand?

GEORGE LUCAS: It sits on the shelf. We have 50 hours and we’re just waiting to figure out a different way of making movies, a different technology that we can use that will make it so it is economically feasible to shoot the show. Right now it looks like the Star Wars features, but we have to figure out a way of making it for about a tenth the cost of the features, because it’s television. And we’re working toward that and we’re continuing to work toward that and we will get there at some point. But it’s just a very, very difficult process and obviously when we do sort of figure this problem out, it will dramatically affect a lot of movies, because a lot of features now that are costing $150-$200 million, we’ll suddenly be able to make them for $50-$60 million.

[CeeKay]

so it could be called Star Wars: Underworld?

http://tv.ign.com/articles/121/1216139p1.html

[Turtle]

Lucas doesn't have the ability to make something that really is, "Underworld". Unless he plans to make Sith all vampires and Jedi werewolves.

[TiLT]

Lucas doesn't have the ability to make something that really is, "Underworld". Unless he plans to make Sith all vampires and Jedi werewolves.

Lucas has clearly aimed the prequel trilogy and the Clone Wars series at families, including children. However, he has made it clear that this live action series will be adult in nature, and for once it won't be about any Jedi.

[Laner]

That may be his intent, but I agree with Turtle - I don't think he has the capacity to do so.  Or rather, he doesn't have the capacity to give someone else the reins in order to do it properly.

Edit:  reigns != reins.

[hepcat]

That may be his intent, but I agree with Turtle - I don't think he has the capacity to do so.  Or rather, he doesn't have the capacity to give someone else the reigns in order to do it properly.

+1

Lucas can't write and his ego won't allow him to admit it.  He may be a decent director, but that's as much credit as I'll give him.

[Bullwinkle]

That may be his intent, but I agree with Turtle - I don't think he has the capacity to do so.  Or rather, he doesn't have the capacity to give someone else the reigns in order to do it properly.

+1

Lucas can't write and his ego won't allow him to admit it.  He may be a decent director, but that's as much credit as I'll give him.

But Clone Wars isn't written by him.  He's heavily involved, yes, and seems to force storylines and characters on the writers, while saying no to other ideas, but somehow the writers (and everyone else involved) manage to create something interesting and fun pretty consistently.

[hepcat]

That may be his intent, but I agree with Turtle - I don't think he has the capacity to do so.  Or rather, he doesn't have the capacity to give someone else the reigns in order to do it properly.

+1

Lucas can't write and his ego won't allow him to admit it.  He may be a decent director, but that's as much credit as I'll give him.

But Clone Wars isn't written by him.  He's heavily involved, yes, and seems to force storylines and characters on the writers, while saying no to other ideas, but somehow the writers (and everyone else involved) manage to create something interesting and fun pretty consistently.

So basically, you're saying Clone Wars is good in spite of Lucas' involvement?   

Lucas is not a writer.  He never has been and he never will be.  He creates two dimensional characters who are oftentimes just stereotypes ripped from pop culture.  His stories are ridiculously simplistic morality tales without any depth.  That the original Star Wars trilogy was successful was due to timing and the hands off approach Lucas took when it came to the actual scripts past the first one. 

He's a decent director and he's great with special effects.  But he couldn't craft a mature and deep story if his life depended on it.  Even Spielberg admits this as he's all but publicly blamed Lucas for the shitty story in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Crap.

[Caine]

That may be his intent, but I agree with Turtle - I don't think he has the capacity to do so.  Or rather, he doesn't have the capacity to give someone else the reigns in order to do it properly.

+1

Lucas can't write and his ego won't allow him to admit it.  He may be a decent director, but that's as much credit as I'll give him.

But Clone Wars isn't written by him.  He's heavily involved, yes, and seems to force storylines and characters on the writers, while saying no to other ideas, but somehow the writers (and everyone else involved) manage to create something interesting and fun pretty consistently.

You would think that when the public and the critics consider the best movie in your two trilogies is the one you didn't direct, you would hope the message would get through.  Only Lucas has this big an ego.

Yes, the CW cartoons are pretty good, with the exception of the usual injection of his ideas, mainly evil character names.  They have done more for the character of Anakin to make him likable than any of the prequels could have done.  

[Bullwinkle]

That may be his intent, but I agree with Turtle - I don't think he has the capacity to do so.  Or rather, he doesn't have the capacity to give someone else the reigns in order to do it properly.

+1

Lucas can't write and his ego won't allow him to admit it.  He may be a decent director, but that's as much credit as I'll give him.

But Clone Wars isn't written by him.  He's heavily involved, yes, and seems to force storylines and characters on the writers, while saying no to other ideas, but somehow the writers (and everyone else involved) manage to create something interesting and fun pretty consistently.

So basically, you're saying Clone Wars is good in spite of Lucas' involvement?   

That's exactly what I'm saying, no wink needed.  

Consequently, we shouldn't write off whatever this Underworld is going to be yet either.

[hepcat]

Oh sorry, bull.  I think my wink was taken the wrong way.  I was just agreeing with what you wrote and the wink was for those who think Lucas may not be that bad.  

I'll give Underworld a chance, I just hope that Lucas is doing what he did with Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and handing the writing duties off to someone as talented as a Lawrence Kasdan.

[Bullwinkle]

No worries.

[TiLT]

I seem to recall something about Lucas wanting to write the first 10 episodes, but leaving the rest of them to others.

[hepcat]

So the first 10 episodes will feature the racially offensive adventures of a thug who looks like Snoop Dogg?

[metallicorphan]

So the first 10 episodes will feature the racially offensive adventures of a thug who looks like Snoop Dogg?

LOL





I am excited with it being more adult directed if that is indeed what it will be,not sure i am keen on the name yet though,it just makes me think of ..

[TK-421]

Why even bother trying to come up with new titles for the various Underworld movies?
Why not just cut to the chase and call them Kate Beckinsale's Ass In Skintight Leather: Parts 1 - 4

[hepcat]

Why even bother trying to come up with new titles for the various Underworld movies?
Why not just cut to the chase and call them Kate Beckinsale's Ass In Skintight Leather: Parts 1 - 4

That was fine until they substituted the equally hot Rhona Mitra in the third one.  Up until that point, I wasn't even aware these movies had a plot, but when I realized the buttocks I was watching weren't the usual buttocks, I had to turn the sound up to see what was going on.  Now, I wasn't disappointed in these new buttocks, mind you.  It's just that I was forced to actually pay attention to the story for a few minutes until I found an explanation for this late game buttock substitution.

[CeeKay]

possible leak about the plot of one of the first episodes:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Daniel tells us that one of the series' first episodes will involve a group of  bandits acquiring the capability of time travel, and using it to travel back in time to stop Darth Vader from ever existing.

 

[metallicorphan]

possible leak about the plot of one of the first episodes:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Daniel tells us that one of the series' first episodes will involve a group of  bandits acquiring the capability of time travel, and using it to travel back in time to stop Darth Vader from ever existing.

 

If that's true,it's time to double barrel this rabid dog that is Star Wars