Day after May the 4th be with you.
Some may remember my
initial thoughts on the announcement of a new installment of Star Wars, now that we know some more, let's examine some of what we know and some of what we fear...
1. Director JJ Abrams has been brought on to the project. This was a red flag to me. I know many were incredibly thrilled because of the success Abrams has had with the
Star Trek revival. While that gave many confidence in him for this endeavor it concerned me. Not so much about Abrams, but about Disney. The problem is it shows to me that they don't really seem to understand the
Star Wars genre. Disney got what is at the moment the biggest directing name in sci-fi to do a movie that is not at it's heart sci-fi. Ok, I know that if you look up Star Wars it is located under science fiction, but really Star Wars is better understood as a space opera or space fantasy. The general pull and arch of the stories are not that which are typical of "science fiction" but are more in epic fantasies. Remember, Lucas drew much of his inspiration for the story from Joseph Cambell's study of myths. One hope is that Abrams knows this, claiming to be a major Wars fan, but it tells me Disney does not.
The other concern is actually because of Abrams' work with
Star Trek. While he successfully made the series interesting to a new audience, he also made some really stupid story/script things as an ode to the old. This was particularly noticeable in
Star Trek: Into Darkness and the ways it tried at times to mirror or hint to
Wrath of Khan. If you think about it, it feels like the Starfighter fight against the droid control ship in
Episode I which you could not watch without thinking it was a recreation of the Death Star scene from
A New Hope. As bad as some of that was, there was at least a purpose to such in the prequel trilogy, we don't have that now and I don't want to see any of that in the new episodes. Those are reminders that the original is better.
2. Abrams has brought on Lawrence Kasdan to help with the screenplay. This was perhaps the best thing I've heard from what is going on with this production. Kasdan you may remember was brought on by Lucas in writing
Episode V, which if you ask me was the best of the Star Wars movies. For the record he also has written
Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and
Wyatt Earp. I hope bringing him on will steer this ship the right way. Kasdan understands
Star Wars, and he had some ideas that Lucas never bought into but that would be particularly popular I think now (including killing off a main character). Perhaps we will see some of these come through here. But it also gives me a little more confidence in Abrams to bring him into the process so Abrams is not the only one shaping this screenplay now that Michael Arndt is no longer involved.
3. In their process of making an official canon Disney has essentially rejected all the post Star Wars material. My bigger fear was they were going to essentially ban it, knowing their love for control, I'm not as bothered by this move. It also does not mean they are not getting any ideas or pointers from the extended universe of material, but it does mean we can't count on any part of that material being true or used. It gives them more creative freedom (for better or worse). For those who read more of the post trilogy material it might be more frustrating because they have for years shaped their vision around a Jedi Academy, offspring of Leia and Han, or a deep love for the
Heir to the Empire materials. While familiar with some of it, it's not essential to me, although I do think there is material from there worth doing.
4. Luke, Leia, and Han are back. So is Chewy, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Those who read my first post already know where I stand on this. I'm particularly concerned that rumors suggest they will indeed be the stars and center of this movie (Han Solo supposedly has a major role). Now with Kasdan on board, one of them may kick the bucket, and perhaps they are used to help lead us into the new universe, but I sincerely hope the new trilogy is not following the three heroes again. As far as I'm concerned, their best role would be to help introduce us to the new characters and then get out of the way. As we know that the film is taking place 30 years in the future (for obvious reasons) it does make one really begin to ask how 3PO and R2 will fit into this universe. Being in every movie to date, at what point do they become out-dated droids? Or will there be some work done to make them look "renovated" since
Jedi? Otherwise they just don't really seem to fit in this world if you ask me. As I have also seen asked online, why isn't Lando among the characters returning? This is particularly intriguing regarding the still mysterious story. It would seem that if the new Republic and these characters' roles within it were to play a big part, so should Lando. If Han is a central figure, one of his closest friends should play a big part. I just don't get it, at least in regards to the story. In regards to actors, payroll, and whatever else, yeah I could see it.
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Meet Daisy Ridley, or as I like
to call her, Natalie Portman 2.0 |
5. The rest of the cast are relative unknowns or at least not big enough names to drown out the show. In true
Star Wars fashion they decided to gamble. While some of these names can at least be seen from something, none really stand out to me. Some are interesting, such as the greatest unknown Daisy Ridley, who looks like Natalie Portman's little sister (or Padme Amadala's granddaughter perhaps?) or Adam Driver, who kinda looks like a cross between Alan Rickman and that guy who played Russell's son Miguel in
Independence Day. He has the look of a villain to him, almost so much so it's stereotypical. I'm excited also to see Oscar Isaac, who I enjoyed in the recent
Robin Hood movie. But my favorite early casting choice may be the guy with the coolest name: Max Von Sydow. He could be a wise old good guy (like he was in the
Exorcist) or a wicked villain of the likes of Grandmoff Tarkin. Hopefully whoever they get as a villain will be as I said, both a quality villain and a lasting one.
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| a little James Duval |
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| and a little Alan Rickman |
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| gets you Adam Driver |
6. Now when I said Max Von Sydow is my favorite casting choice, I may have lied. I say may have because we are unsure what his part is, but Andy Serkis was the name that stood out to me the most on the
cast list. Serkis is most well known for the roles where you don't actually see him play them: Gollum from
Lord of the Rings and
Hobbit series, Caesar from the recent
Planet of the Apes films, and of course, Kong from
King Kong. Serkis is a gem of a motion capture actor. One frustration I have expressed is the over-utilization of green screen and computer animation in the prequel trilogy. But if you are going to have a digital character, Serkis is the best route to do it.
7. The
new Rebels series looks to be good. In my initial post I talked about this in regards to Lucas' idea for a live-action Star Wars show. I still prefer live action, but this is a story that needs development and so I am pleased to see this and look forward to what comes of this series. In general this is a wise move to fill a hole left by the final cut of
Episode III.
8. I'm pretty psyched to also hear that Disney will do lots of stand alone films too. The success of the Avengers films in being both tied together and stand alone probably helped fuel this, and it will be interesting to see if the focus of the stand alone films will be on characters of the new trilogy or explore other areas of the universe. Fans are already drooling over the idea of Boba Fett films. Not baby brat Boba Fett either, but instead blast-his-way-out-of-the-sarlaac Boba Fett. We can dream. What will be most important is that the trilogy feels different from the stand alone, not simply because the whole band is back together again. It needs to have the epic long stretching, over arching story of its predecessors and it needs to be the true strength of the franchise.
Avengers really was not as strong as the stand alones, more visually striking, more action packed, but not as strong or well-rounded of a film.
9. I've said this some, but I am rather concerned about what the new story will be. Do you try to re-open closed ends of the original trilogy or do we believe that the same characters are now tied into a completely new adventure? As I said in my previous post on the universe, we want to see something new, and the new trilogy would best be served by going into the expanded universe. Now we know it won't be as free from the last trilogy as I thought, I just hope in an effort to make this story work it doesn't undo the last one. One thought that I'm not entirely thrilled over would be the one thing the expanded universe has already done to open a hole in
Jedi: the Hutt syndicate. In the movie, when Jabba's barge is destroyed and Jabba chain-choked, you presume that they have closed the book on that threat on Han. But the reality is there are other Hutts out there. In the
Clone Wars movie they played a greater role, showing us the crime family extends beyond Tatooine. But it makes one wonder, particularly if Han plays a major role in the new movie if the threat/villain is not a threat to the entire republic but rather to the people involved in the death of Jabba (although again we have to ask where Lando is...unless they already whacked him!). This could also answer why it appears the first sets revealed and shot at were locations resembling Tatooine. Although that would not explain the
possibility of AT-ATs on Tatooine.
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maybe this little thing grew up and
wants vengeance on Solo and friends. |
Hard to see a quality trilogy out of that though. Could make an interesting movie, but trilogy? And if it can't make a trilogy, it shouldn't be
Episode VII. Although I suppose you could argue for it as an angle or subplot in the new trilogy much as Han's debt to Jabba was in the original. Of course you have to explain why it takes 30 years to avenge Jabba, and while I could see a way to do that, it isn't the best way.
10. The return of Luke means the force will in some way play a role in this story. We will have at least one lightsaber and hopefully more. I'm not sure how athletic Hamill is now for fight choreography. Maybe somewhere between when he was younger and Alec Guiness? It will be good to have that back though, as well as John Williams on board. I heard he will be rejoining the team, which means the musical score will be amazing.
Well that's a good summary of what we know and what it means thus far. We'll have to stay posted, but I am certainly excited to see what will be revealed in the coming months. The basic story cannot be withheld forever.
But I do wonder sometimes, what would a "chooser" hymnal look like? Based on some of what I hear as a pastor, I get the impression that we don't even have a single chooser approved song some Sundays. So that led me to choose the number 51. In the past I have actually created a fuller list of my "chooser" hymns, that is, if I were given total control and preference towards creating a hymnal what hymns I would choose to make a comprehensive yet not overly extensive list (for those wondering, I think most congregations could actually do quite fine with a hymnal of about 200-250 hymns if they are all used, thematically balanced, and fit your context. Most hymnals have way more than that because of the diversity of contexts and needs it is meeting and the vastness of music out there). But for this chooser hymnal I'm gonna pick 51, because that accounts to less than a hymn a week - meaning not only can they all be sung in a year, but really you have to. So allow me here to provide you with a list of 51 songs that if that was all we sung all year, I would be in chooser heaven because I just love these songs. I like the vastness of the hymn world, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have favorites. So while I'm sure I will forget some wondrous hymns, here are the first 51 I love that come to mind (in no particular order).
