January 15 2008

source: INSIDER #99


Boba Fett Instrumental Part Of Star Wars Live-Action TV Series




MCCALLUM QUOTES:

• "The series will be about brand new characters, a group of people we haven't seen yet, except Boba Fett, who will be an instrumental part of it. The series will also showcase other bounty hunters."

• "What happens to an empire. It's a much darker, much more character-based thing. It's not as plot-driven." "...look like a feature on a television budget, with all new characters, new environments, new planets, and trying to keep the storyline alive for a lot of people."

• "We have two great writers from England, one from Australia, and three from the United States." "...in order to develop the 'bible' for the characters, in other words who they are and where they're going to go, along with some of the story ideas. We're going to try and hash out the first three or four episodes."


EXCERPTS:

• Four Concept Artists have been working on designs for the show. One of which is Erik Tiemens, who worked on Attack of the Clones & Revenge of the Sith.

• McCallum says they hope to have the first scripts by February 2008 since a November 2007 meeting was cancelled due to the Writers Guild strike. Lucasfilm may be making an independent deal with the Writers Guild of America.

• McCallum tells Star Wars Insider they hope to be shooting by the end of 2008 or early in 2009.

You know I was under the impression (or assumption) that LucasFilm would continue their use of non-union shops. Although I suppose one can view this as postive news that LFL want to use high quality WGA writers... ones that maybe even wrote for 24, LOST, HEROES, and BATTLESTAR.

As always awesome to see re-confirmation of the involvement of Boba Fett. The best part is potential LAS shooting at the end of this year:

They better get their butts in gear if they want to go by 2009.

I only hope, since bounty hunters are going to be a big part of it, that this doesn't become a spotlight/variety show, showcasing a different bounty hunter every couple weeks. Overall season arcs that accomplish something would be nice.

As long as the show doesn't center on bounty hunters, I'll be giving it a shot. I think a show centering on bounty hunters would get tired very, very quickly as would a show about Jedi on the run.

Boba is cool in a background role, but in the forefront? He's a bad guy, a bounty hunter/assassin. We already know what he and others of his ilk will do. Where's the drama?

It's like the Sarah Connor Chronicles. I've seen two episodes and I'm already getting nauseous.

What is it going to be every week on that show? Is it just a terminator chases them and they run? Yippee!

That might work for a two hour feature film, but for a series? Please!

And if these things are going to be 'character driven' as fat boy Rick says, we need the writers to really be the cream of the crop.

You're exactly right. They need to have an arc across the whole series, some goal to be obtained it can't just be "Bounty-Hunter Wars" y'know? If I wanted to to watch an hour of a whole bunch of dudes chasing people for small cash and petty crimes I'd switch on Fox and watch Dog the Bounty Hunter.

I have high expectations that the most marketable franchise in the World, ever can NOT sell-out and for once build something with some credability.

The recent movies, were ho-hum though I did like ROTS but the writing needs to be a HUGE step-up from that, and hiring only the best with the brightest and innovative ideas will put this over for me. LucasFilm can afford it so fucking do it.

I've only seen one ep of the Terminator TV series, it was okay but I got the feeling that they kinda had no-where to go with it apart from them running for 80% of each episode.

Fett could well end up spending shows just dealing with his and other people's problems in a lot of very talky scenes, with the occasional semi big budget bust up. Shit, sounds like a SCI-FI Frasier to me. "I'm listening", are you George? Are ya?!

Still would prefer a live-action KOTOR series, at least we wouldn't be totally sure of what was coming up next (well sort of). I'll stop bleating, this aint gonna happen. There's more chance of Kelsey Grammar playing a one man show on Broadway as Darth Sidious’ granddad than of that happening.

Returning back to the lower levels of Coruscant, a belated Happy New Year to all MF peeps!

It would be nice to know that Rick (and/or parts of Co.) reads some of this constructive board talk

That would be the absolute breasts anything KOTOR is good in my books, love those games.

I like the idea of Bounty Hunters in the upcoming life-action series, but I also like the idea of the galactic civil war being showed from the perspective of normal civilians dragged into a secret resistance ( at first)later to be known as the Rebellion would be awesome, a new point of view we haven't seen yet in the movies or the EU.

With people who become challenged to become spies for the Rebellion, creating the first group of pasionate Rebels eager to fight the Empire, I'm not saying it has to become another "V" series, because it has to be cool and timeless!

Or people recruting to become stormtroopers, being admited into academies driven to choose for The Empire.

Fear and Anger have to be present as well, to get that Star Warsy spice it needs.

People being blinded by the idealic lies of the Empire, not wanting to do with anything when it comes to a resistance against "peace-loving" Emperor Palpatine.

I think Palpatine will be Mentioned in the series as a peaceful and Merciful Emperor (at first) , to the common citizen at least.

In my opinion the serie has to be about common people (of course not in a dull way) in the Star Wars universe who get dragged into a devastating conflict.




For example, I find that the Novel "Ruins of Dantooine", has a bit of a tv-series material feel to it, i wouldn't mind if the series would have a structure like that.

I can understand where you're coming from here. And I don't neccesarily disagree. However, if Dog the Bounty Hunter had a jet-pack and a starship, and was occasionally disintegrating italians on alien worlds in the midst of carefully crafted and intriguing storylines, I wouldn't be against it. Sure, it would get old, and they shouldn't pin the entire series around just "Bounty Hunting" itself per se, but if a significant portion of it ends up that way, it isn't a bad idea alltogether. But like you said, they need to have some great writers with good ideas. Without them, it will suck no matter what it's about.

Btw, Lucasfilm, I'm totally available. I've watched and yelled at enough TV to know what doesn't suck, and I work cheap. Like those kids in Singapore.

Boba Fett Doesn't just go after anyone so that alone means there should be some interesting characters and moments to be seen. He is the Jedi Killer.