On the Subject of the Star Wars (SW) Live Action TV Series

[This was submitted to the TheForce.net as they requested fan input on the SW TV show for their podcast.]

On the Subject of the Star Wars (SW) Live Action TV Series

Summary:
The Tartakovsky Clone Wars cartoon opened the door for Lucas to bring in other creative people to helm Star Wars on TV with great results. Because every new Sci-fi TV show since 1977 has had explain what differentiates it from SW, there is plenty of room for the show to be true to the SW style and mythos. Current trends in sci-fi television programming point to the success of series that use character focused, long-term story based scripts. This type of storytelling is already in the SW genome. Though I needed some convincing at first, the era between Episodes III and IV offers some great advantages for story telling and viewer accessibility. That accessibility for the casual viewer who is already familiar with the SW universe will be a key factor in attracting that non-sci-fi viewership and boosting the series’ success. I fear that the success of SW TV may hinder fan film viewership and stunt its growth while it’s in its infancy.


Comparisons to other sci-fi shows:

As far as the future comparison to other contemporary sci-fi television we should not automatically assume that just because Lucas is involved it will some how be lacking. (The constantly disappointed fans are a tiresome bunch.) We know that George is going to hand it off after he gets it going. This means we have no idea who will be writing and directing most of the series. For me, that’s the most exciting part. I think the Genndy Tartakovsky series proved to Lucas he could that breath new life into SW by letting others step in and bring a fresh perspective.

We all know there are a few really good sci-fi shows out there right now that this will be compared to. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. Just think, the conception of every single sci-fi show since 1977 has had to say “our show is different from Star Wars because…” The fact that SW has been the 900 pound gorilla in the genre for so long has left room for a Star Wars series to be very . . . well . . . unapologetically Star Wars in every way. Isn’t this exactly what we want as fans?

I think this is a good time for SW to enter the sci-fi TV ring. For one thing, with the demise of Star Trek Enterprise, sci-fi fans have finally buried the “alien-of-the-week” TV format. If you told me back in the early nineties when Star Trek the Next Generation was going off the air, that in 2005 a dark-moody-sexy-political-remake of Battlestar Galactica would be immensely more successful than the current Star Trek offering, I would have told you to lay off the Romulan ale. The attention span of TV audiences has really expanded and we no longer want episodic television where the beginning of every episode starts with the same crew who are all unchanged from the last 200 episodes.

Long-term plot continuity and real character development will make or break the new SW series. I think that because they are writing the 100 episode story arc from the beginning will help it not meander like so many of the Trek series. One of the reasons I think Babylon Five still has the fan base that it does (even off the air) was the long-term focused stories. X-Files died a slow death and premature because it could never get that right. Part of the greatness of Star Wars is the big story arc with characters in the center so hopefully the new TV series should inherit that.


SW translated to the small screen:

Star Wars will scale well to the television medium. Digital technology has matured to the point where the special effects of the average well-budgeted sci-fi TV series are up to par with the quality of the original SW trilogy. Star Wars is always best told in a visual medium, which is why only a very few of the expanded universe novels ever measure up to films and that is also why there has always been a great market for SW comics. The Clone Wars animated series hardly relies on any dialog at all shows how great SW can be on the small screen. At the end of day, for every hour the average fan has watched SW in the movie theater, I would venture to guess that he or she has spent tens times that number watching the films on the small screen at home.


Era choice:

As far as the choice of the era is concerned, I was secretly hoping it would pick up with and old Luke training a new generation of Jedi. The main disadvantage to that approach is so much has happened in the expanded universe that there are not a lot of fresh story ideas. Plus such a series would be rife with continuity problems (for example, look at the contradictions between Clone Wars volume 2 and Labyrinth of Evil).

The only real disadvantage to doing it during the era between Episodes III and IV is that you know the bad guys (the Empire) will win eventually. No matter how great our good guys are going to be, they won’t defeat the Emperor and if they happen to be Jedi their days are numbered. Then again, having a strong villain always helps the narrative (no one is scared of the Trade Federation—they’re idiots). This is not all that bad of a “prequel-problem” compared to one the Young Indiana Jones series had. No matter how much trouble Indy got himself into we know he won’t die because that would mess up the movies. The hero was just too invincible.

There are a number of really exciting advantages to doing the III to IV era. Lucas publishing has done a good job leaving that era devoid of a main galactic narrative (only Solo and Calrissian really occupy that story space now in the periphery). I think the TV series will *feel* very Star Wars because the writers can use wookies, storm troopers, X-Wings, snow speeders, AT-ATs, rebels freedom fighters, Boba Fett (occasionally?) and most of all Vader will make his appearances. One of the big lessons learned from episodes I & II is: if it ain't got Vader it just doesn’t feel like SW.


Star Wars TV will be a huge success:

We all know the addicted fans (like me) will watch it religiously, but that is not what will make it a success. Right now the average Joe on the street likes Star Wars movies and can enjoy them every bit as much as the hard core fans. Star Wars is very accessible to the non-fan and it doesn’t make a lot of demands from the casual viewer to figure out what’s going on. For the casual viewer who has seen two or three of the movies, the learning curve won’t be that steep. Everyone knows what the force is, what a Jedi is, who Darth Vader is, what the bad guys look like. Anybody can like Star Wars with out feeling stupid. I don’t think a good story arc has to screw this up. Hell, the plot of the original trilogy heavily relies on three other movies no one had ever seen and that didn’t stop them from becoming successful. Personally there a more than few TV series that I stopped watching because they were so inaccessible to casual viewing.

If the show is successful or not, I fear there might be a negative impact on fan film viewership. I am sure they will continue to be made at the same rate they are now (for a while anyway). Personally, fan films fill a void. They provide new Star Wars content that is short, fun and easy to take in. A good series would do pretty much the same thing. SW fan films are so plentiful and of the highest caliber of armature filmmaking because there is a real demand for new SW content in the visual media. After another hundred hours (not including the 3D cartoon) are added to the SW cannon, I fear the fan film niche may get crowded out and that the high viewership they have enjoyed up until now may wane as a result. Just think, why would some one (who wants a SW fix) spend time downloading programming to watch a film of a lesser caliber when that person can a few days for the next new episode on TV. This could be a real downside if the SW fan film community starts to weaken so soon after its birth.