http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/11/02/ ... e-details/

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/11/02/s ... othy-zahn/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... u-vs&gl=GB

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/40-st ... -be-movies

After having a week to take in this news, here are my final thoughts on this move.

This move saddens me. Star Wars has been packaged (literally and figuratively) as one story that spans 6 films. The end of ROJ is the end of the story. The rest is EU space-filler. So Lucas decides to sell his company to Disney, which is entirely his right. But then a 180 occurs, and all of a sudden, Episode 7 is greenlit with a release date announced?

I was happy with how the story was told, from beginning to end. I was almost welcoming a return to "the dark times" that us old-timers remember from 1984-91. When Star Wars retreated from the public consciousness. I like the idea of "having it to myself" in its complete form, as it exists today. How many books on the films have been published with "The Complete..." as part of the title? Well now it's not going to be complete.

This stinks of a money-grab by Disney. If Lucas was so set on having his original story come to a conclusion with the end of ROJ, why all of a sudden Ep. 7? Is it a coincidence that Ep. 7 becomes a reality once Disney paid $2 billion for LFL? Disney wouldn't spend that kind of money on a property unless it could count on making money on the deal in the long run. The best way to ensure that is to make additional films. So I believe the reason Ep. 7 is a reality has financial, not creative, roots. Lucas made Ep. 1-3 to complete the story he had in mind, but did not have the technology to accomplish back in the day. The prequels were motivated by the creativity of the original storyteller, not out of a need to fulfill the investments of investors in a company such as Disney. My opinion is that if Lucas truly saw Ep. 7-9 as part of his complete story of Star Wars, they would have been released in 2008, 2011 and coming up in 2014 (continuing the 3-year cycle between films that picks up from 2005 and ROTS).

And hopefully the standby line of "Luca$ is a greedy ba$$$tard!!11!!" by his lame critics can be put to rest with his $4 billion donation to education.

Lucasfilm was also a company I felt good about supporting, because it represented such core American values like "being the underdog" and "railing against the system." It was a private company formed by the creative vision of one man. Who else can say they created a private company based on creative ideas that is worth billions of dollars? I supported everything Lucas did, INCLUDING the style and execution of the prequels, because he had the guts to do it and because I loved the films. That aspect of Star Wars is gone forever for me now. LFL really was a rebel force, going against the norms of Hollywood for 40 years. Now, it's another pole in the Hollywood tent.

I will buy tickets to see Ep. 7-8-9 in theaters. But my time spent chasing down every rumor, trashing or defending the people in the films, and taking wild guesses at the story, actors or characters is over. The great thing about Star Wars is that it's so vast, anyone can make it anything they want it to be for themselves. The core of so many arguments and conflicts over these films is an inability from people on both sides to see this point. Star Wars for me, lasted from 1977 through October 30, 2012. It can be more for more people, and that's great for them. Maybe a 3-year-old today will see Ep. 7 when he's 6, and be as enthralled by it as I was when I saw ANH in the theaters the first time at age 4. I am happy for that kid, and any other kids or adults who are swept away by the sequel trilogy and are taken on the same kind of ride I was on from ages 4-10, and was once again as an adult. I will not be part of their new ride, however.

I am forever grateful to George Lucas for his hard work and vision, and totally support his decision to retire in the manner in which he has. Lord knows the man has earned it. Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm is a harsh knife of reality driven into the amazing little fantasy world Lucas helped create.

I hope the sequel trilogy is great, and I sincerely want people to enjoy them. I might enjoy them. But it won't ever be the same for me again. I don't expect a single person to agree with anything I've written in this post...I'm writing it more for myself than for anyone else. Just like how I value Star Wars more for myself than how others do.

royalguard96, it's eerie how much I agree with nearly everything in your post (including that we're the same age)--l love all 6 movies and the Clone Wars, like and admire Lucas/Lucasfilm for the same reasons you state, and was even kind of hoping for the dawn of a nice quiet "dark times" in the past couple of years, because I thought that would strengthen Star Wars in the long run. My thoughts diverge from yours when it comes to the new movies, though. Yeah, it bums me out a bit to see Lucas turn over the control that he fought for (and won) his entire artistic life, but I get him wanting to call the shots on this process rather than having his kids involved in some sort of nightmare scenario after he's gone. I'm glad that he's unburdened of it all, as much as he can be, at least. And as much as I don't really give a damn either way about Disney (I think the last thing in their animated canon I saw was probably "The Fox and the Hound", whenever that came out), it seems to me that they treat the jewels in their crown fittingly, excepting all those garbagey direct-to-video sequels.

What gets me excited for 7/8/9, aside from the whole "WTF?" of it all, is his "extensive and detailed story treatments" and his past inability to let things go completely...look at how heavily involved he's been with The Clone Wars--I feel like his "creative consultant" role will be more than even he probably thinks right now, but who knows. As for Ep7's roots being financial rather than (or more than) creative, you may be right, but I hope that's not the case; I wonder when he came up with these story treatments, aside from his old notes from the 80's. I'm treating this next trilogy as "real" Star Wars; anything beyond it (without Lucas involvement) will probably be akin to "pick and choose" EU for me....I might love it, or I might ignore it. Out of respect to your last paragraph, I'm absolutely not trying to persuade you differently, because your reasons are perfectly valid and very well-stated--it was just interesting to me how much of your post I feel like I myself could've written up to that point.

Oh, and I remember you from years spent on Rebelscum--then again, it's hard not to remember somebody with worthwhile stuff to say in the middle of that massive shithole.

Very thoughtful post, royalguard96.

According to Sansweet, his involvement with The Clone Wars sparked back his interest in Star Wars.

royalguard - Very nicely put.

Although, even as an "older fan," I can't help myself. I'm excited as all hell for this new Star Wars trilogy!

I went through my own "Dark Times" of paying no attention whatsoever to Star Wars, from 1983 to 1997, mostly because I hated Return of the Jedi when it first came out. Then my interest was rekindled by the Special Editions, and then the Prequels.

My only hesitation about the newly-announced sequel trilogy is that I too looked at Star Wars as being a 6-part story with a beginning, middle and end. Like I said elsewhere, it isn't Star Trek. I was blindsided by the news last week. But the more I think about it, the more I'm buying into the concept of Star Wars as a series of trilogies (Prequel, Middle and Sequel, and maybe beyond), that forms a saga. Or maybe Episode 9 will be the real conclusion, and other movies beyond that would be spin-off series (like the Clone Wars or the "Underworld" series, or a Boba Fett or other character-based movie or show that isn't necessarily a "numbered" episode).
Anyway, it's really growing on me and I'm now very excited to see how this all develops. I think having distanced myself from Star Wars for so many years might be part of the reason I'm looking at it from this objective point of view.

I second the sentiment

After the initial WTF? I'm more optimistic now. I hope those treatments do exist and are good and the producers/directors don't stray far from them. If nothing else, I really wanna see Luke as a distinguished Jedi Master passing on the lore to the new generation so that the story will come full circle.

Years before Lucas began saying the films were about Darth Vader, there are multiple instances where he referenced a 9 or 12 film saga. I think the first of those I remember was in Bantha Tracks. I'm more excited with where the story can be taken from here and how many of Lucas' early ideas will be incorporated.