The Sequel Trilogy Isn’t Real Star Wars

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star-wars-episode-vii-logoSequel trilogy fans need to grow up.

All the excitement, all the speculation, all the angsting. All for something that really doesn’t matter. It’s absolutely baffling why so much thought and effort is being put into something so meaningless. It kills me to see people wasting their time on all of this because, come on, let’s be perfectly honest.

The sequel trilogy isn’t real Star Wars.

Sure, there might be some high profile names associated with things like Episode VII. Michael Arndt might be considered a good screenwriter and the multitude of directors in consideration for the film might have solid credits to their names, but that doesn’t change the fact that Episode VII and the sequel trilogy is nothing more than a glorified, high-budget fan film.

People are certain to object to lumping Episode VII with mere fan projects, but those people just have to deal with reality. What makes something Star Wars?  It’s George Lucas’ involvement. Now of course you’re saying that Lucas is involved. He gave his blessing to this new project and may have even handed some ideas over to be used in it. Keep in mind, though, just because he said it’s okay to do a sequel trilogy and offered up some ideas doesn’t mean he likes it or thinks it counts himself.  Permission or not, unless Lucas is in the trenches doing the writing, directing, and producing, it’s in the same class as a fan film.

But Lucasfilm is involved, you might add! That makes it real Star Wars, doesn’t it? Yeah, they also were involved with and approved both incarnations of Star Tours. You mean to tell me that a half-baked droid once voiced by Pee Wee Herman counts as real Star Wars? Come on. Lucasfilm needs to do things to make money. Sometimes that means they give their approval to things that can use the Star Wars name so they can do just that. Employees to pay, new intellectual properties to design and all that jazz. Consider it a necessary evil to preserve the things that do count and do matter.

But the Sequel Trilogy? Still doesn’t count. Maybe if Lucas came out of retirement and stepped in at some point to personally approve the screenplay, actors, sets, locations, and director choice, we could say this counts as Star Wars and is worth investing your time, effort, and emotions into. Some sort of Lucas Signature Series sequel trilogy, as it were. That level of involvement would go a long ways to granting this new trilogy legitimacy in this universe, but even that’s somewhat shaky.

Short of that, none of this is counts as Star Wars. Lucas isn’t directly involved. He’s not penning the story and overseeing the process. The people Lucasfilm are bringing in might be decent writers and directors, but they’re not Lucas. It takes more than his coerced blessing and a Lucasfilm stamp of approval to be the real deal. These Sequel Trilogy fans need to get over themselves, grow up, and stop pretending like these films have any bearing or value to the Star Wars Universe. The only thing these new films are good for is making money.

It’s simple. The lack of direct involvement from Lucas means that the Expanded Universe Sequel Trilogy isn’t real Star Wars.

Ed. note: A follow-up

28 thoughts on “The Sequel Trilogy Isn’t Real Star Wars”

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  10. Sorry I totally disagree. Lucas didn’t do everything for Empire & Jedi. So saying he needs to do everything is just false. George Lucas asked Lawrence Kasdan who co-wrote the screen play for Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back & Episode 6: Return of the Jedi to come back & co-write Episodes 1-3 but Kasdan turned him down. So Lucas knows he needs help. His outlines are good. Its what created this universe. But even he knows he’s not a good writer.

  13. I honestly don’t know if you are being sarcastic or what, but just in case, I’ll type up a serious reply. Firstly, The original Star Wars Trilogy was a collaborative effort. This means that Lucas did NOT do it all alone. It required the efforts of many people to come to fruition, and nothing pisses me off more than Lucas’ revisionism that not only destroyed the films, but left many talented people on the sidelines. HE DID NOT DO IT ALL OR WRITE EVERY SINGLE THING HIMSELF. It is true that he did it all for the prequels, and we all know how absolutely TERRIBLE they were. Personally, I think that it is very good news that he will not be so involved, and the fact that McCallum is gone is an excellent bonus. As of 1996 for me, the man that we all knew as George Lucas disappeared, whereabouts or even if he’s alive are unknown. What is there now is just a meat sack inferior copy that continues to feel the need to make the very thing that provided his billions worse with every incarnation. Thank the Gods for folks like Harmy that have been doing everything possible to preserve the original award-winning films that we all love so much. It’s a HUGE shame that the preservation of these films has been left up to the fans, but we can only hope that Disney can start the process of providing us with an official release. Remember that, contrary to what Lucas would have us believe, Star Wars was written on the fly after the first film and he DID NOT have the “whole story” in his little brain. We have Gary Kurtz, Leigh Brackett, and many others to thank as well. It was not his original intention to have things tie-up in a neat little bow the way they did. In closing, I suggest that a set of so-called “fan films” might just be what this universe needs. Why? Because fans obviously have more love and respect for Star Wars than George does himself. Period. Will it be a blockbuster? Will it be praised? Will it be universally panned? We simply won’t know until 2015. One thing’s for sure. With Lucas out of the way, it might just actually be a decent set of films.

  14. Why can’t people just enjoy things for what they are, let’s just wait and see what it’s like first. There are many things George has not been involved in but they are still Star Wars, it’s a universe. My fandom comes from watching the prequel trilogy which I grew up with, sadly there are still many old haters out there for that, and Lucas was more involved there than the originals.. To be honest whatever happens there is gonna be some moaner out there.

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  18. Following the logic of this post the entire expanded universe should be considered not Star Wars, especially since GL never wrote a single novel or any comic adaptations. The Del Rey published post ROTJ novels are pretty much garbage anyway!! All they wanted to do was sell books and not produce high quality, character driven stories. Perhaps there is some merit to your argument. However, some would say to give it a chance.I was skeptical when Timothy Zahn first published his Heir to the Empire. After reading the book, I rather enjoyed it and fell in love with Star Wars all over again!! I have been disenchanted with everything post ROTJ for about 12-13 years, and welcome something new that would send the state of things regarding post ROTJ in a new direction. This is especially true regarding the characters Chewbacca and Mara Jade!! I am willing to give this new movie a chance, especially if the script is well written and the picture is carefully made.

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  20. Without great humor such as this, the Star Wars fandom would be a much duller place. Sadly the “real Star Wars” and “real fandom” debate will go on until the GFFA gets swallowed up by a star morphing into a red giant, but it’s about time someone made good light of it.

    Thank you.

  23. Star Wars ended with Return of the Jedi. That’s it: that’s the perfect ending. This new movie will only ruin it. By bringing back the Sith it would ruin the sacrifice of Anakin and the prophecy. Also, I don’t want to see Luke Skywalker as an old man: Luke is the epitome of the kid in any of us. To see him aged… it’s like seeing an ideal aging and die. I will pass this souless sequel made only because of money and because Hollywood don’t have original ideas.

    • Uh. Dude. This two year old post was satire meant to poke fun at people who claim the books and comics aren’t real Star Wars. -I don’t actually think the sequel trilogy isn’t real Star Wars-

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